L'Occasione Fa Il Ladro - Rossini Reviews

Traditional but unimaginative

This will only satisfy you if you are content with a very dull traditional treatment of one of Rossini's lesser works. (Akin to 'Il Signor Bruschino' - this seems to be a later offering from the same theatre and festival). The absurd (even by opera standards) plot, unimaginative costumes and painted backdrop could perhaps be overlooked if the music was of the same calibre as 'The Barber'. I don't think it is and I realised very early on that I had made a mistake in selecting this DVD.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Another Rossini one act delight

Another one act comic opera by Rossini, and performed in Germany. They are to be congratulated on giving a modern day audience the chance to see a performance of Rossini's lesser known operas. I thoroughly enjoyed this one as much as Bruschino.

Although not to the standard of his later operas like Cinderella and the Count Ory, it should not be missed by Rossini fans. The orchestration and arias are up to his usual standard.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Enjoy

Suspend belief and enjoy the inventive and moving music in this one-act farce, as two couples sort out their love-lives. The performance in an eighteenth-century theatre with a beautiful backdrop, magically lit as day turns to evening, is well sung by a relatively unknown cast, who manage the conventions with striking naturalism. It is one of the most enjoyable and effective of Rossini's operas.