The Best of the Set

 

I am happy to report, as I come to the end of this Rossini Overtures series, it goes out with a bang.

One of the reasons, I think, is that the rarer overtures are stronger musically, or perhaps more diverse. The storminess and militaristic attitude from portions of Riccardo and Zoraide, Torvald and Dorliska, and Armida are well appreciated. Sometimes Rossini's sunniness can wear thin.

Again, Rossini excels in spotlight wind solos, and here, the additional presence of a solo horn in a few of these overtures and the Sinfonia in E-flat works marvels on me. As with previous volumes, the trombones are back there doing something, but they are never really allowed to rip out; this is a string/woodwind centered recording, and everything else happens further back.

But this is all that remains of my unfulfilled wishes in this series. Otherwise, the sonics are up-close and colorful, and the articulations are crisp.

A review from 2024


I think I can safely say, for me, this last volume from Naxos’ Rossini Overtures series is its best.


That statement is putting aside the well-known overtures Barber of Seville and The Turk in Italy too. Really once you hit the Sinfonia in E-flat Major, with its wonderful horn solo, and the varying moods of storminess amongst Rossini’s usual penchant for bubbly sunniness, not to mention a few rattly marches along the way, I was taken with these rarer overtures most of all.


Again, the strings and woodwinds are very closely recorded, where the brass, particularly the trombones, are subsidiary to the rest. The Prague Sinfonia under Christian Benda are perky and alert though, and I live how crisp, clear, and colorful the sound is.

 

Listen on YouTube

 

 

Works
Barber of Seville: Overture (7.27)
Turk in Italy: Overture (9.00)
Sinfonia in E-flat Major (5.23)
Riccardo and Zoraide: Overture (9.11)
Torvald and Dorliska: Overture (8.36)
Armida: Overture (6.09)
Count Ory: Overture (3.06)
Bianca and Falliero (6:38)

Performers
Prague Sinfonia Orchestra
Christian Benda, conductor

Label: Naxos
Year: 2014
Total Timing: 55.31

 

 

 

My favorite entry of this series.

I am not sure this is the best of the best, but it is enjoyable nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Rossini recordings HERE!