Rossini Overtures
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Gioachino Rossini
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 5/1991
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 431 653-4GH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Il) Barbiere di Siviglia, '(The) Barber of Seville', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| Semiramide, Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (L')Italiana in Algeri, '(The) Italian Girl in Algiers', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| Guillaume Tell, Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (La) Cenerentola, or La bontà in trionfo, 'Cinderella', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (La) Scala di seta, '(The) Silken Ladder', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (La) Gazza ladra, '(The) Thieving Magpie', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
Composer or Director: Gioachino Rossini
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 5/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 61
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 431 653-2GH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Il) Barbiere di Siviglia, '(The) Barber of Seville', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| Semiramide, Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (L')Italiana in Algeri, '(The) Italian Girl in Algiers', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| Guillaume Tell, Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (La) Cenerentola, or La bontà in trionfo, 'Cinderella', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (La) Scala di seta, '(The) Silken Ladder', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (La) Gazza ladra, '(The) Thieving Magpie', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
Composer or Director: Gioachino Rossini
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 5/1991
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 431 653-1GH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Il) Barbiere di Siviglia, '(The) Barber of Seville', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| Semiramide, Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (L')Italiana in Algeri, '(The) Italian Girl in Algiers', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| Guillaume Tell, Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (La) Cenerentola, or La bontà in trionfo, 'Cinderella', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (La) Scala di seta, '(The) Silken Ladder', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
| (La) Gazza ladra, '(The) Thieving Magpie', Movement: Overture |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Chamber Orchestra of Europe Claudio Abbado, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer |
Author: Richard Osborne
There hasn't been a lot to laugh about recently, but there are, I'm happy to say, one or two laughs to be had on Abbado's new collection of Rossini overtures; and a chance to sample the wittiest, best paced, and sonically most ravishing account of the Overture to La Cenerentola we have yet had. On the whole, though, I would prefer to hear Abbado masterminding complete performances of Rossini operas—La Cenerentola itself (DG, 9/86), or the stunning Il viaggio a Reims (the 1986 Gramophone Record of the Year—DG, 1/86), also with the COE. His way with overtures alone is much less consistent, with too many of them bringing out the obsessive and unsmiling side of his own (and Rossini's) artistic make-up. The Overture to L'italiana in Algeri is terribly hard-driven and the relative speed at which the cellos' rapt colloquy is taken at the start of Guillaume Tell rather invalidates Berlioz's suggestion that here is ''the calm of profound solitude, the solemn silence of nature when the elements and human passions are at rest''.
Of course, designer-Rossini, smart as a whip, is all the rage these days with groups like the COE and their transatlantic cousins the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. (Interestingly, the Orpheus players have so far shrewdly confined themselves to early Rossini overtures, pre-1817—DG (CD) 415 363-2DH, 10/85.) But though these groups have all the musical expertise in the world—the COE wind players are dazzling in La scala di seta—what they seem to lack is a sense of style that is anything more than skin-deep. Go back to musicians playing under conductors as different as Gui, Beecham, or even Toscanini and one is far more aware of that puzzling mixture of the iconoclastic, the courtly and the urbane in Rossini's artistic make-up.
I suppose the obvious comparison here is with the various Marriner discs (Philips, 7/86 and EMI, 2/89) which also use modern instruments and also show minimal sense in ordering the items (Abbado's running order gives us 1816-1823-1813-1829-1816-1812-1817). But the real comparison must be with Roger Norrington's fascinating—and chronologically ordered—new EMI collection. His collection's particular point of interest is the use of period instruments—sinister drums and muted brass at the start of Semiramide, reedy oboes and recklessly gambolling horns—but textures aside (and what a revelation many of them are) I find Norrington the more consistent guide to the overtures. There is no danger with the older instruments of the music being driven anonymously along in a helter-skelter way; Norrington is far more relaxed at the start of Guillaume Tell; and the readings in general are characterful and alert. I also greatly prefer the clear, ample sound of EMI's Abbey Road Studio No. 1 to the drier acoustics favoured by DG on location in Ferrara and Berlin.'
Of course, designer-Rossini, smart as a whip, is all the rage these days with groups like the COE and their transatlantic cousins the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. (Interestingly, the Orpheus players have so far shrewdly confined themselves to early Rossini overtures, pre-1817—DG (CD) 415 363-2DH, 10/85.) But though these groups have all the musical expertise in the world—the COE wind players are dazzling in La scala di seta—what they seem to lack is a sense of style that is anything more than skin-deep. Go back to musicians playing under conductors as different as Gui, Beecham, or even Toscanini and one is far more aware of that puzzling mixture of the iconoclastic, the courtly and the urbane in Rossini's artistic make-up.
I suppose the obvious comparison here is with the various Marriner discs (Philips, 7/86 and EMI, 2/89) which also use modern instruments and also show minimal sense in ordering the items (Abbado's running order gives us 1816-1823-1813-1829-1816-1812-1817). But the real comparison must be with Roger Norrington's fascinating—and chronologically ordered—new EMI collection. His collection's particular point of interest is the use of period instruments—sinister drums and muted brass at the start of Semiramide, reedy oboes and recklessly gambolling horns—but textures aside (and what a revelation many of them are) I find Norrington the more consistent guide to the overtures. There is no danger with the older instruments of the music being driven anonymously along in a helter-skelter way; Norrington is far more relaxed at the start of Guillaume Tell; and the readings in general are characterful and alert. I also greatly prefer the clear, ample sound of EMI's Abbey Road Studio No. 1 to the drier acoustics favoured by DG on location in Ferrara and Berlin.'
Rossini Overtures
Rossini Overtures
Rossini Overtures
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