Rossini wrote ‘L’Italiana
in Algeri’ for the San Benedetto Theatre
in Venice during a remarkable span of
five months where he wrote three new
operas (‘Il Signor Bruschino’, ‘Tancredi’
and ‘L’Italiana in Algeri’) for the
city’s opera houses. The soprano singing
Isabella, Maria Marcolini, had already
sung in Rossini’s ‘Ciro in Babilonia’
and had been instrumental in Rossini
getting the commission for ‘La Pietra
del Paragone’. The success of ‘L’Italiana
in Algeri’ was responsible for the impresario
Barbaja inviting Rossini to Naples.
‘L’Italiana in Algeri’
is one of those operas which put severe
technical demands on the principals.
All the major roles involve significant
amounts of fioriture and some pretty
fiendish ensembles; all of this in a
comic opera. On stage, faced with a
winning comic stage presence, one can
be a little forgiving of a voice which
is more buffo than bass or a tenor whose
passage-work is less than perfect and
whose acuti are unsatisfactory. But
on a recording these things matter and
in addition, in a comic opera, the singers
must act with their voices and let us
know that it is a comedy. We expect
warmth, expression and flexibility.
These discs are a remastering
of a 1978 Acanta recording which seems
to have passed under the critics’ radar.
Luciana Valentini-Terrani went on to
re-record the role of Isabella for CBS
in 1982 and it is this recording which
is always mentioned in connection with
her performances. Here, with Dresden
forces conducted by Gary Bertini, she
is supported by an all-Italian cast.
The plot involves a
comic riff on Mozart’s ‘Die Entführung
aus dem Serail’ with an element of the
duping of an old fool in love which
comes into operas such as ‘Don Pasquale’.
Rossini throws these stereotype characters
together with a sparkle and fizz which
can be infectious and provides a great
role for a comic mezzo-soprano.
Veteran bass, Sesto
Bruscantini, plays Mustafa the put-upon
Bey. Bruscantini was a fine comic actor
with a great sense of style, but even
in his prime his voice was always rather
limited. Here, he sounds rather dry
though his passage-work is still pretty
efficient; he was nearly 60 when the
recording was made. But his performance
sounds rather sober, and lacking in
comic fatness. Other Mustafas on disc
are successful in different ways. On
CBS for Ferro, Wladimiro Ganzarolli
has comic fatness in spades, but supremely
poor passage-work. On Erato/RCA for
Claudio Scimone, Samuel Ramey displays
fine, expressive passage-work, so one
forgives him his rather severe sound,
lacking in comic resonance.
A similar dryness affects
the Taddeo of Enzo Dara and though his
runs are efficient, they do not always
sound nice! This is another problem
that affects recordings of this music,
the singers must have the ability to
sing the fioriture, but it needs to
be expressive and actually sound pleasant.
Too often singers can manage the notes
at the expense of sound quality. Here
though one can forgive Dara as he is
singing a comic role. But like Bruscantini,
his voice lacks a comic smile. Domenico
Trimarchi for Scimone is my favourite
Taddeo, managing to combine that essential
comic smile in his voice with a commensurate
facility with the passage-work.
As Isabella’s beloved
Lindoro, Ugo Benelli certainly has all
the notes. He is enviably accurate in
Lindoro’s fiendish opening aria; an
aria which proves something of a hurdle
for most tenors on disc. After this
aria, Benelli more or less settles in
to a rather stylish performance. But
unfortunately, his passage-work often
sounds neither pleasant nor expressive.
One can marvel at his technical ability,
but not much more. This is a something
of a problem with Francisco Araiza for
Ferro and Ernesto Palacio for Scimone.
Both Araiza and Palacio use different
means to surmount the technical challenges
of the role and Palacio has the advantage
of a flexible conductor in Scimone whereas
Benelli has to follow Bertini’s rather
driven beat. To hear an ideal performance
of Lindoro’s opening aria, one must
go to Juan Diego Florez’s recent recital
disc.
But, whilst the other
characters in the opera are important,
it is the role of Isabella which makes
or breaks a recording. Technically,
Lucia Valentini-Terrani has the vocal
apparatus to surmount Isabella’s challenges
and on both of her recordings you cannot
fault her on this point. But Richard
Osbourne in the Gramophone described
her as "jug-toned" on her
CBS recording, and I rather agree with
him. On this disc, recorded four years
earlier, she is lighter in tone and
in many ways admirable. Her passage-work
sounds lovely. But her voice has no
comic smile, no charm and her passage-work
is too often inexpressive. One must
turn to Marilyn Horne on Erato/RCA to
hear a paragon of an Isabella. Horne
is constantly expressive and flexible,
charming and with a comic smile in her
voice. She has the knack of not only
singing the passage-work, but using
it for expressive purposes, she colours
her voice.
Of the smaller roles,
Alfredo Mariotti makes a fine, dark-voiced
Haly but Norma Palacios-Rossi is lacking
as Elvira. Elvira has two functions,
her dramatic role is to act as a foil
for Isabella, but musically her role
is to supply the top line in the ensembles.
Unfortunately, she does not do this
with the ease I would like. Turning
to the Erato/RCA recording again, Kathleen
Battle’s Elvira shows just how it should
be done.
Gary Bertini conducts
a wonderfully crisp account of the overture,
but as the opera progressed I began
to feel it was rather too crisply regimented.
The ensembles have an accuracy which
can sound driven. Moving to the Erato/RCA
recording, Claudio Scimone shows how
to achieve accuracy whilst also imbuing
the music with flexibility and suppleness.
I have not, so far,
mentioned editions. Scimone’s recording
(and all subsequent ones) takes advantage
of the new corrected Fondazione Rossini
edition of the opera issued in 1979.
I am unclear how much of this was used
on the current recording; the booklet
does not say.
I am not sure who might
like to buy this recording. It is perfectly
adequate, without being ideal. Lovers
of Luciana Valentini-Terrani might be
content to have a recording where she
sounds in lighter voice than her CBS
recording, but for me Marilyn Horne
and Claudio Scimone on Erato/RCA are
still essential listening in this opera.
Not only do Scimone and his cast sing
the opera admirably, but they make me
smile.
Robert Hugill
see also review
by Robert Farr
Chorus of the State Opera, Dresden 
