Gioachino Rossini - La Cenerentola

Most helpful review Gioachino Rossini - La Cenerentola

• An engrossing treat - vastly cheaper than a Glyndebour ticket!

   

  By Hedgehog1 (15 reviews) from Colchester , 30 Jun 2009

  [Highly rated reviewer]

  Glyndebourne’s 2005 production of Rossini’s ‘La Cenerentola’ divided critical opinion; Sir Peter Hall’s direction was seen by some as over-serious and lacking fun. If that means an absence of the gurning, goofing and pratfalling associated with crassly pantomimic Rossini productions, then thank goodness for that.
  
  Do play the Extras first, because Hall and outstanding conductor Vladmir Jurowski provide fascinating insights into the opera’s cultural and musical contexts, as well as its interpretation. Hall firmly places it after the French Revolution and before the Romantic Movement, at a time of social flux, referencing Mozart’s ‘Le nozze di Figaro’. Rossini pointedly ignored the frippery of fairy godmothers, so here, the true benefactor and master puppeteer is Alidoro, the Prince’s tutor, a mysterious yet obviously Enlightenment figure. Jurowski believes that ‘La Cenerentola’ contains Rossini’s best music, and he sees in it the ambiguities of the ‘dramma giocoso’ inherited from Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’, as well as similarities to Mozart’s ‘Così fan tutte’.
  
  For all its sophisticated intelligence, this performance lacks none of the glitter and humour of Rossini’s music, nor, indeed, its power and beauty. Jurowski generates a scintillating account of the score, full of wit and with a fleetness that never prevents opportunities for exquisitely turned phrases or delicious dialogue between winds and strings. He is a master of the Rossini crescendo, and, while avoiding bombast, he nonetheless allows the weight of the brass to tell, especially in the Act 2 storm; Beethoven was 47 at the time of Cenerentola’s 1817 premiere, with ‘Fidelio’ twelve years behind him. The LPO plays wonderfully well.
  
  The vital heartbeat of this production’s wit and comedy lies in Hall’s microscopically detailed delineation of individual characters; petulant snobbery from the two sisters (superb Raquela Sheeran and Lucia Cirillo), never ugly but wickedly vicious both to each other and their inferior sibling; game collaboration, yet underlying rivalry from Simone Alberghini’s subtle Dandini; and a humane but manipulating irony from Nathan Berg’s nobly-sung Alidoro. And if you want out-loud-laughs, Luciano Di Pasquale is the disgustingly derelict and dangerously cruel Don Magnifico with the belly to provide them; he is also a masterful Italian ’buffo’ bass. Young Maxim Mironov is a beautifully light-voiced tenor, impressively florid in the outrageously demanding ‘passagio’, and reveals an engaging and passionate Ramiro. If Ruxandra Donose’s Cenerentola lacks superficial charm and some vocal allure, she portrays a determined inner strength that builds naturally to the extraordinary vocal fireworks of her magnanimous but triumphant finale.
  
  While there are no technical weakness among the singers, it is surprising that occasional ensemble problems between the stage and orchestra were not edited out; repetition could prove irritating. However, there are still far too few fine opera performances on Blu-Ray, and Opus Arte’s disc captures an excellent performance in astoundingly vibrant colours and pin-sharp detail that are absolutely jaw-dropping. With Robin Lough’s outstanding video direction and wide-ranging surround sound this is a totally engrossing treat – and vastly cheaper than a Glyndebourne ticket! I might just have to buy it.

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