Prom 68: 4.09.16 - Rossini: Semiramide

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London
7.00 p.m.

Gioachino Rossini: Semiramide
(concert performance; sung in Italian)

Semiramide ..... Albina Shagimuratova (soprano)
Arsace ..... Daniela Barcellona (mezzo soprano)
Assur ..... Ildebrando d'Arcangelo (bass-baritone)
Idreno .....Barry Banks (tenor)
Oroe ..... Gianluca Buratto (bass)
Azema ..... Susana Gaspar (soprano)
Mitrane ..... David Butt Philip (tenor)
Nino's Ghost ..... James Platt (bass)

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Opera Rara Chorus
Sir Mark Elder (conductor)

Sir Mark Elder conducts Rossini's operatic tragedy, which pushes singers to the limits of expression in recounting the story of Semiramide, Queen of Babylon, and her entrapment in a web of incest and revenge at the behest of her long-lost son. Vocal athleticism, vivid storytelling and Classical poise combine in Rossini's rarely heard opera, performed in concert.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07sx9yx

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm looking forward to this one, as it's not what you might call a typical Rossini opera - and I've never heard more than the overture!

[David-G]

Marvellous opera. Intensely dramatic, and terrific tunes. I used to play this incessantly in the car on long journeys. Hearing Rossini on period instruments is always a bonus - so with the OAE this will be a particular treat. And with Sir Mark, a double treat. Especially as Semiramide is done so rarely. For me, this is undoubtedly the highlight of the Proms season.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Idreno .....Barry Banks (tenor)

Not quite sure where you got Barry Banks from... was he ever listed for this Prom? At the time of the Proms launch, Idreno was scheduled to be Javier Camarena. A few weeks ago, Levy Strauss Sekgapane was announced as his replacement.

[underthecountertenor]

Not quite sure where you got Barry Banks from... was he ever listed for this Prom? At the time of the Proms launch, Idreno was scheduled to be Javier Camarena. A few weeks ago, Levy Strauss Sekgapane was announced as his replacement.

A shame we're not getting Camarena in this, as from what I've heard of him it could have been spectacular. I see that he is still billed to appear in Il Barbiere at the ROH in September. I'm looking forward to seeing him in that. Meanwhile, I nevertheless look forward to Semiramide - with fond memories of a thrilling concert performance at the ROH in 1986 (Marilyn Horne, June Anderson, Chris Merritt, Samuel Ramey - a mouthwatering cast that delivered fully on its promise).

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Our 'host' has declined to answer my question, but it appears he has a crystal ball, for Barry Banks *is* now singing Idreno. The BBC and RAH sites have recently updated their listings.
I also see that Ildebrando d'Arcangelo is no longer listed, with Mirco Palazzi now taking on the role of Assur.

In order to comply with a finish time of 22:50, there *will* be some cuts, but these will be fleshed out in the Opera Rara recording undertaken this week under S'Mark. Quite why the afternoon Prom wasn't scheduled for 3pm instead of 3:45pm to allow for a full performance, heaven only knows.

[Don Basilio]

idreno is pretty tangential to any plot and seems only to be in the cast list to give a tenor something to do. I suspect if there are going to be cuts, his are the first numbers to go.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Good evening, Don B!

I do hope not... I rather like Barry Banks!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Our 'host' has declined to answer my question, but it appears he has a crystal ball, for Barry Banks *is* now singing Idreno. The BBC and RAH sites have recently updated their listings.
I also see that Ildebrando d'Arcangelo is no longer listed, with Mirco Palazzi now taking on the role of Assur.

In order to comply with a finish time of 22:50, there *will* be some cuts, but these will be fleshed out in the Opera Rara recording undertaken this week under S'Mark. Quite why the afternoon Prom wasn't scheduled for 3pm instead of 3:45pm to allow for a full performance, heaven only knows.

I claim no such powers. I merely cut and paste, occasionally correcting errors I notice, and excising the names of presenters.

[David-G]

Sir Mark gave a talk on Semiramide and why he chose it for Opera Rara. This can be viewed on-line:

https://vimeo.com/170608830

This is a wonderful presentation and I would like to encourage anyone who is planning to go to or to listen to the concert, to watch it.

[David-G]

Listen out for the "Banda", an on-stage band of unusual wind and brass instruments, which is a feature of this opera. It will be wonderful to hear this played on period instruments by the OAE.

[makropulos]

Wow. Aside from the obvious bits, I've not hear Semiramide before. I've just been listening to the broadcast on iPlayer. As with many of Rossini's best works (and musically this certainly seems to be one of them), it's full of wonderful surprises. The old instruments certainly helped in this performance (some delicious buzzing horns among many other things), and the cast sounded strong and confident. Mark Elder's conducting was characteristically purposeful and exciting. A great discovery for me, and a treat.

[jean]

Wonderful!

Daniela Barcellona was splendid, as she was as Malcolm in the ROH's La Donna del Lago.

I have seen it on stage, at La Fenice in 1992 but I couldn't remember the plot very well; surely though Semiramide's entrapment in a web of incest and revenge isn't at the behest of her long-lost son, who's as much a victim of Assur's plotting as she is herself - and she was involved in poisoning her husband, wasn't she?

[Alison]

Not really my thing but enjoyed this very much. Will buy the recording when it comes out.

[bluestateprommer]

This was definitely a Prom for love and not for money, although the house seemed somewhere about 2/3 full, so not bad for a Sunday night Prom of what turned out to be 4-hours duration of a rarely performed Rossini opera. Proportionally, the rest of the hall was better filled than the Arena (and the Gallery as well). While admittedly I just barely survived through to the end, this was a tremendously well done performance of a very demanding score. Some may have noticed Daniela Barcellona's false start at her first notes, but she lucked out in that her first notes were unaccompanied, so she just hit the mental reset button and started over promptly. One odd bit of placement of the singers in the final scene was that Semiramide and Arsace were on opposite sides of the platform, even though S. accidentally gets the fatal wound from Ar.. (Go figure.)

Listen out for the "Banda", an on-stage band of unusual wind and brass instruments, which is a feature of this opera. It will be wonderful to hear this played on period instruments by the OAE.

For the record, in Act I, the Banda was at the back of the RAH platform, stage left, behind the chorus. They moved up to the Gallery, roughly at the same clock position, for Act II. The gongs for the finale of Act I were at roughly 2:45 and 9:45 to Sir Mark Elder at 12:00, placed in the Gallery. One other random note on stage business was that James Platt sang his Act I part from literally the center of the Arena (where the fountain used to be), on the elevated platform normally for TV cameras. If anyone on iPlayer notices the change in acoustic when JP sings as the Ghost of Nino, that's the reason. Also, it should be noted that the OAE was a pretty sizeable and weighty ensemble, where sometimes a solo singer or two got lost in the orchestral textures. So any relative lightness of texture from period instruments was somewhat negated by the actual size of the orchestra.