Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) - L'Italiana in Algeri (1989) Cover Front Album Composer Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) Conductor Claudio Abbado Orchestra / Ensemble I Wiener Philharmoniker Length 125:37 Format CD Genre Vocal; Opera Chorus I Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor Chorus Master Helmuth Froschauer Index 444 Out of Print No Musicians Soloist Raimondi; Pace; Gonda; Corbelli; Lopardo; Baltsa; Dara Credits Producer Christopher Alder Label Deutsche Grammophon Track List L'Italiana in Algeri 65:01 01 Sinfonia 07:52 02 Act I: No. 1: Introduzione "Serenate il mesto ciglio" Coro, Elvira, Zulma, Haly, Mustafa 06:53 03 Act I: Recitativo "Ritiratevi tutti" Mustafa, Haly 01:21 04 Act I: No. 2: Cavatina "Languir per una bella" Lindoro 06:41 05 Act I: Recitaitvo "Ah, quando fia ch'io possa" Lindoro, Mustafa 00:41 06 Act I: No. 3: Duetto "Se inclinassi a prender moglie" Lindoro, Mustafa 04:09 07 Act I: No. 4: Coro e Cavatina "Quanta roba! Quanti schiavi!" "Cruda sorte! Amor tiranno!" Coro, Haly...Isabella, Coro 04:46 08 Act I: Recitativo "Gia ci siam" Isabella, Taddeo, Haly 01:02 09 Act I: Recitativo "Ah! Isabella... siam giunti a mal partito" Taddeo, Isabella 00:55 10 Act I: No. 5: Duetto "Ai capricci della sorte" Isabella, Taddeo 07:18 11 Act I: Recitativo "Ascoltami, Italiano" Mustafa, Lindoro 00:40 12 Act I: Recitativo "Dunque degg'io lasciarvi?" Elvira, Mustafa, Haly 00:44 13 Act I: No. 6: Aria "Gia d'insolito ardore" Mustafa 03:22 14 Act I: Recitativo "Vi dico il ver" Zulma, Elvira, Lindoro 01:01 15 Act I: No. 7: Finale I: "Viva, viva il flagel delle donne" Coro, Haly, Mustafa, Isabella, Taddeo 08:24 16 Act I: No. 7: Finale I: "Pria di dividerci da voi, Signore"; Stretta del Finale I: "Va sossopra il mio cervello" Tutti 09:12 L'Italiana in Algeri 60:36 01 Act I: II: No. 8: Introduzione "Uno stupido, uno stolto" Coro, Elvira, Zulma, Haly 01:36 02 Act I: II: Recitativo "Amiche, andate a dire all'Italiana" Mustafa, Zulma, Elvira, Haly 00:42 03 Act I: II: Recitativo "Qual disdetta e la mia!" Isabella, Lindoro 01:15 04 Act I: II: No. 9: Cavatina "Oh, come il cor di giubilo" Lindoro 02:12 05 Act I: II: Recitativo "Ah! Se da solo a sola" Mustafa, Taddeo 00:53 06 Act I: II: No. 10: Coro, Recitativo e Aria "Viva il grande Kaimakan" Coro 01:01 07 Act I: II: No. 10: Coro, Recitativo e Aria "Kaimakan! Io non capisco niente" Taddeo, Mustafa 00:21 08 Act I: II: No. 10: Coro, Recitativo e Aria "Ho un gran peso sulla testa" Taddeo, Coro 03:55 09 Act I: II: Recitativo "Dunque a momenti" Isabella, Lindoro, Elvira, Zulma 01:25 10 Act I: II: No. 11: Cavatina "Per lui che adoro" Isabella, Mustafa, Taddeo, Lindoro 05:13 11 Act I: II: Recitativo "Io non resisto piu" Mustafa, Taddeo, Lindoro 00:31 12 Act I: II: No. 12: Quintetto "Ti presento di mia man" Mustafa, Isabella, Taddeo, Lindoro, Elvira 09:03 13 Act I: II: Recitativo "Con tutta la sua boria" Haly 00:24 14 Act I: II: No. 13: Aria "Le femmine d'Italia" Haly 02:24 15 Act I: II: Recitativo "E tu speri di togliere Isabella" Taddeo, Lindoro, Mustafa 01:17 16 Act I: II: No. 14: Terzetto "Pappataci! Che mai sento!" Mustafa, Lindoro, Taddeo 05:26 17 Act I: II: Recitativo "Tutti i nostri Italiani" Taddeo, Lindoro 00:35 18 Act I: II: No. 15: Coro, Recitativo e Rondo "Pronti abbiamo e ferri e mani" "Amici, in ogni evento" "Pensa alla patria" Coro, Isabella 08:32 19 Act I: II: Recitativo "Che bel core ha costei!" Taddeo, Mustafa 00:37 20 Act I: II: No. 16: Finale II: "Dei Pappataci s'avanza il coro" Lindoro, Coro, Taddeo, Mustafa, Isabella 09:00 21 Act I: II: No. 16: Finale II: "Son l'aure seconde, son placide l'onde" Coro, Lindoro, Isabella, Taddeo, Mustafa 01:48 22 Act I: II: No. 16: Finale II: "Mio signore..." "Mio marito..." Tutti 02:26 Personal Purchase Date 5/11/2002 Value $35.50 Store Media Play, Gainesville Condition 100% Librettist Angelo Anelli Nationality Italian Premiere Teatro Benedetto, Venice, May 22, 1813 "Form" Dramma giocoso in due atti Language Italian Period Romantic Details Studio Mozart-Saal, Konzertaus, Wien Catalog Number 427 331-2 Live No Recording Date 9/1/1987 Spars DDD Reissue No Sound Stereo Notes Mustafà: Ruggero Raimondi Elvira: Patrizia Pace Zulma: Anna Gonda Haly: Allessandro Corbelli Lindoro: Frank Lopardo Isabella: Agnes Baltsa Taddeo: Enzo Dara Harpsichord: Ronald Schneider Musical assistance: Ion Marin Notes, illustrations, text and translations Essay: "Organized and Complete Madness" by Philip Gossett Essay: "Music that 'makes one forget all the sadness in the world'" by Claudio Abbado Essay: "Rossini's opera buffa: music as theatrical essence" by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Gramophone review: "Unlike Rossini's too infrequently recorded Le Comte Ory, L'italiana in Algeri has generally fared well on record. Older sets conducted by Giulini (EMI - nla) and Vaniso (Decca) had many estimable qualities despite what must now appear to be certain textual limitations; and Azio Corghi's 1979 Critical Edition from the Fondazione Rossini/Ricordi was promptly and successfully recorded by both CBS, the set conducted by Ferro, and Erato/RCA, the set with Marilyn Home as Isabella and conducted by Scimone. "In this respect, the new Abbado recording comes rather late on the scene, though the production from which it derives, one of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's last, has been a good deal seen and admired in Vienna and London in the past year or two and has solid theatrical credentials. Yet, paradoxically, it doesn't much sound like a perfommance with a successful stage run behind it. It is very well sung and tolerably well conducted, but in the final analysis it is neither a very vivid performance nor a particularly funny one. Of the excellent cast, only the veteran Enzo Dara really brings a smile to the lips, and his is a Taddeo already familiar from the CBS set. Raimondi is now a practised Rossinian, technically very fluent, as is Baltsa who has more character than CBS's rather jug-toned Valentini Terrani or Decca's Teresa Berganza. What she doesn't attempt or achieve is Marilyn Home's astonishing comic flamboyance, a comic flamboyance that in something like the Act 1 duet with Taddeo borders on theatrical ham but which is redeemed by Home's compendious knowledge of Rossini's theatrical style and her expertise in knowing where to make the jokes tell musically. And this is important. What distinguishes L'italiana as an opera is the specifically musical nature of many of the jokes, the use, for example, of relatively esoteric things like sonata-form recapitulations or cadenzas in cabalettas as weapons with which Isabella, the heroine prima donna, regularly forestalls her friends and overmasters her foes. No one knows better than Horne how to deploy these devices. "Abbado's conducting seems, by and large, less brilliant and less sure of touch than on his earlier Rossini sets: the Il barbiere, the Cenerentola and the stunning Il viaggio a Reims (also DG). Classic performances of Rossini comedy find their own natural pace and silken motion. Abbado gets generally articulate and spirited playing from the Vienna Philharmonic, remarkably so given their potential inappropriateness as a Rossini ensemble (Scimone uses I Solisti Veneti, Ferro the period Capella Coloniensis) but several of his tempos fall short of the mark. The Act 2 Trio goes very well but the Quintet is lumpily done, the Act 2 finale is nice but cool, that to Act 1 often well judged but with a tempo that is a shade too quick for Mustafa's bemused bumblings and a stretta that is more presto than vivace. That said, DG have the advantage of an excellent Lindoro, Frank Lopardo, a perceptibly baritonal tenore di grazia new to the international operatic record scene but a singer I imagine we will be hearing a good deal in the future. "Technically and in terms of presentation the rival sets have some drawbacks. The Erato/RCA lacks an English text in the libretto and the CBS is beginning to sound its age as a recording. The new DG is well and lavishly annotated but the recording itself leaves rather a lot to be desired. Setting aside quite a few minor quibbles, the main drawback, to my ears, is a too reverberant acoustic for the voices in many of the main scenes. Mustafa himself often appears in a cistern-like perspective and time and again the principals appear to be in a space that is too large for the opera. Rossini hated big theatres for performances of his pre-1818 operas, yet DG have used the Vienna Konzerthaus in rather a grand way. They have also made it difficult for themselves to balance such memorable comic devices as the onomatopoeic junketings in the Act 1 finale. "With its rather inflated recording and occasional obvious lack of humour, the DG set has sent me back to Horne and Scimone rather than the excellent but cooler, more classical Ferro with Terrani. Preferences alter according to mood in such matters, but I don't see myself going to the Abbado as a first choice for this dazzling, innovative, and often very funny dramma giocoso."