SPOTIFY PLAYLIST »IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA«
Rossini Highlights from 1927 to today. Based on the opera storyline, it goes right through almost a hundred years of recording history. The most recent recording, from the duet album »Amici e Rivali« with Michael Spyres and Lawrence Brownlee, represents the extremely virtuoso standard of Rossini singing today, for which great singers like Marilyn Horne and Cecilia Bartoli created new standards.
Marilyn Horne was able to continue a tradition established in the 1930s by Conchita Supervia. Her recordings have cult status. The vitality of her singing (combined with the almost baritonal sonority of her depth) has acted as a mood-lifter for generations. A British journalist went so far as to say: »If you are in a serious depression and think about committing suicide: STOP! And listen to her recordings first!«
Sesto Bruscantini and Vittorio Gui stand for the Rossini renaissance of the 1950s, Cesare Siepi is the ideal embodiment of the basso cantante, who is just as convincing in the slander aria as he is as Don Giovanni. Callas' Rosina remains singular in the subtle Walter Legge production with Alceo Galliera on the podium. The recording of the shaving scene under Will Humburg is an excellent example of how the stage vitality indispensable for Rossini can also succeed in the studio.