> Rossini: BIANCA E FALLIERO - Opera Rara ORC 20

> Bianca - Majella Cullagh
> Falliero - Jennifer Larmore
> Contareno - Barry Banks
> Capellio - Ildebrando D'Arcangelo
> Costanza - Gabriella Colecchia
> Priuli (the Doge of Venice) - Simon Bailey
> Pisani - Ryland Davies
> Official - Dominic Natoli
> Geoffrey Mitchell Choir,
> London Philharmonic Orchestra
>    Conducted by David Parry

> This issue is not quite up to Opera Rara's highest standards.

> Rossini's BIANCA E FALLIERO is not among his very best scores - but, as
> Marilyn Horne has said, it's a rather obscure treasure.  Not all the music
is
> pure gold - but there are certainly some substantial jewels to be found in
> these pages.  Rossini recycled a few things from other works (the Overture
is
> made up of three sections of other overtures - and the finale is yet
another
> recycling of "Tanti affetti" from DONNA DEL LAGO), but there's another
> example of his sensual tenor music in act 1 (Figlia mia, se forza al
core),
> and the wonderful quartets near the end of each act are absolutely top
notch!

> Jennifer Larmore takes a while to warm up, but after she does she gives a
> thoroughly marvelous performance - even compared with Horne.  Ildebrando
> D'Arcangelo is one of the best basses Opera Rara has had since Christian
> DuPlessis retired, and it's a shame he doesn't have more to do here.  The
> weak links here are Majella Cullagh and Barry Banks.  Both have the
complete
> arsenal of bel canto style and technique at their disposal but, No. 1 -
their
> voices seem to be a size or two too small and, No. 2 - neither of them
seems
> to make any attempt at presenting a believable character.  It's pretty
much
> stand up and sing (albeit with much beauty), but no one is home.  And with
so
> many superlative divas available in recordings of "Tani Affetti" (Caballe,
> Horne, Bartoli, Kasarova etc.), the effort here is pale indeed.

> Unfortunately, comparison is inevitable with the Pesaro 1986 performance
> available with Horne, Ricciarelli, Merritt - conducted by Donato Renzetti.
> Larmore holds her own in contrast to Horne, but neither Banks or Cullagh
come
> anywhere near to the other two.  In the case of Ricciarelli, this is
rather
> odd - as Cullagh actually sings the music better than Katia, but she's
just
> not right for the part.  It's as if Despina suddenly was thrust into the
part
> of Fiordiligi - can't work.

> Although David Parry doesn't lack for speed and energy when needed, I
still
> find Donato Renzetti's conducting even more exciting.  I also noticed that
> the wonderful trumpet staccato underlying the 2nd act quartet (Grazie, o
> Cielo!), which made the whole thing move with even more sparkle, was
almost
> nonexistent in this new recording.  That makes me wonder what other
details
> might have been lost with Parry.

> Some other detriments here:  The booklet gives the complete timings of
each
> of the discs, but does not give any timings for the individual tracks
> contained on them.  Also the outer case is just a smidgen too small to
> encompass both the CD jewel case and the rather thick booklet, so it
doesn't
> really close properly.  With the wonderful exception of Tom Kaufman's
> performance history, I was also disappointed in the rather skimpy (for
Opera
> Rara) notes that came with this set.  One last point - the 2nd CD is only
> 42:00 in length - - and I would have thought that Opera Rara would have
had
> some obscure revision or aria that could have filled the extra space.  I
> understand that the above points are rather "nit-picky", but at the prices
> Opera Rara charges for these sets - and in view of their previous
standards,
> I would certainly hope for more.

> Jon Davis
> Green's law of debate:  Anythng is possible if you don't
>    know what you're talking about.