Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri

Cecilia Bartoli (Isabella), Edgardo Rocha (Lindoro), Ildar Abdrazakov (Mustafà), Alessandro Corbelli (Taddeo), Rebeca Olvera (Elvira), Rosa Bove (Zulma), José Coca Loza (Haly)

Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier

If this was, indeed, Bartoli’s first Isabella, it was worth the wait…Nowadays she’s a consummate comedienne whose work looks especially well on film. As for her singing, one would be hard-pressed... — Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2019 More…

Release Date: 9th Aug 2019
Catalogue No: 801904
Label: Unitel Editions

Gramophone Magazine

Awards Issue 2019

DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Presto Recording of the Week

9th August 2019
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2019
International Classical Music Awards

2019

Nominee - Video Performance

Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri

Cecilia Bartoli (Isabella), Edgardo Rocha (Lindoro), Ildar Abdrazakov (Mustafà), Alessandro Corbelli (Taddeo), Rebeca Olvera (Elvira), Rosa Bove (Zulma), José Coca Loza (Haly)
Ensemble Matheus
Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier

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Recording of the Week, Cecilia Bartoli sparkles as Rossini's 'Italiana in Algeri'

9th August 2019

The Roman mezzo makes her role-debut as the feisty feminist Isabella in Rossini's culture-clash comedy, filmed last year at the Salzburg Festival and directed by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier.

“The role of Isabella is sung to perfection by Cecilia Bartoli – a clever, independent woman with an adventurous streak” (New York Times). Bartoli’s superb performance in Gioachino Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) at Salzburg Festival, directed by the BAFTA-winning stage director duo Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, is a highlight among the Rossini celebrations on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death. The DVD captures Bartoli’s excellent performance in a rare audiovisual recording of the Italian superstar, who is one of the most successful opera singers of our time. In this vibrant comedy, every look, every hand gesture brings Isabella to life: Bartoli presents the spirited Italian woman with fire, finesse and extraordinary acting abilities – “a Rossini masterclass” (Bachtrack). Her Isabella is a strong, independent woman who has no intentions of accepting the advances of the powerful Mustafà. In the staging by Leiser/Caurier, which plays with preconceived notions about clashing cultures, Mustafà is no longer an Ottoman bey, but a kind of local gangster who smuggles electronics at the port of modern-day Algiers. In the colourful sets of Christian Fenouillat, Ildar Abdrazakov sings the leering macho, looking for a love affair with the beautiful Italian, with delight and “great comic talent” (Salzburger Nachrichten). Edgardo Rocha’s bright tenor climbs up without effort, making his performance as Isabella’s lover Lindoro flowing and highly emotional. The conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi, showing sensitivity to the intricacies and sparkle of Rossini’s score, leads the excellent Ensemble Matheus in a “beguiling performance” (The New York Times).

Subtitles: It, E, G, Sp, F, Ko, Jp

Reviews

Awards Issue 2019

If this was, indeed, Bartoli’s first Isabella, it was worth the wait…Nowadays she’s a consummate comedienne whose work looks especially well on film. As for her singing, one would be hard-pressed to find a better-sung Isabella…Abdrazakov is a thoroughly schooled bass who shows deftness of touch in passages of quick-fire coloratura…Olvera gives a performance in the Julie Walters class as the excruciatingly unattractive Elvira.

October 2019

“Ensemble Matheus under conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi, are splendid performers throughout... The picture quality of the Blu-ray disc is perfect and the LPCM sound is wonderfully clear for the singers, and offers plenty of orchestral detail which is especially important with a period ensemble.”

August 2020

Bartoli’s Isabella is remarkable, her voice sounding almost as lithe and luscious as ever, and her coloratura still phenomenal—and, what is more, expressive. She bites into the text with relish, and like Abdrazakov has fun with the staging...Corbelli gives one of his classic buffo performances as Taddeo: he knows what to do with the material on a second-by-second, bar-by-bar basis...Overall, this is great operatic entertainment on a lavish budget.

9th August 2019

Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s witty, well-intentioned production does what it can to diffuse the work’s irreverent attitude to Islam...Bartoli negotiates the title-role with canny panache, judiciously ornamenting upwards where possible and deploying her chest register to great dramatic and often comic effect. She’s aided by the transparent, pleasantly astringent playing of Ensemble Matheus under Jean-Christophe Spinosi, who provide a whippy springboard for Bartoli’s many flights of coloratura.

Opera Now November 2019

Superstar mezzo Cecilia Bartoli beguiles her way through L’italiana in Algeri, filmed last year in Salzburg... she looks and sounds wonderful as Isabella, relishing both the languorous lines and coloratura of the role…

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Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri

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Recording of the Week, Cecilia Bartoli sparkles as Rossini's 'Italiana in Algeri'

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