RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Gioachino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
L’occasione fa il ladro - Burletta per musica in one Act [87:33]
Berenice - Elizaveta Martirosyan (soprano); Ernestina - Fanie
Antonelou (mezzo); Don Parmenione - Gianpiero Ruggeri (baritone); Martino -
Mauro Utzeri (baritone); Count Alberto - Garðar Thór Cortes
(tenor); Don Eusebio - Joan Ribalta (tenor); Matthias Manuasi (harpsichord);
Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra/Antonino Fogliani
rec. live, Kursaal, Bad Wildbad, Germany, 14, 17, 21 July 2005
no texts or translations included but Italian text available on
Naxos website
NAXOS 8.660314-15 [45:22 + 42:11]
L’occasione fa il ladro was the fourth short opera that
the young Rossini wrote for the Teatro San Moisè in Venice, and the
fifth new opera by him staged in 1812. It was moderately successful at that
time but as is clear from these discs and recent performances it is an
inventive and enjoyable work. It would surely have been taken into the
regular repertoire long ago if it were not for the many other Rossini works
with similar claims, and perhaps for its awkward length which means that
most audiences will expect a companion piece. Neither of these is however of
any importance on disc. I have found listening to this performance an
exhilarating experience.
The plot is derived from a comedy by Eugène Scribe and
provides opportunities for splendidly varied music. It concerns Count
Alberto, betrothed by his parents to a lady he knows only by her portrait.
After a mistaken exchange of suitcases at an inn the portrait is seen by Don
Parmenione who decides to claim to be her fiancée. She in turn
pretends to be her own servant to test whether she is really in love with
the unknown man when he arrives. Eventually all is sorted out, with the
Count pairing off with Berenice who was his fiancée in the first
place, and Don Parmenione with her servant, Ernestina. Right from the start
Rossini adapts the usual musical forms to his own ends, with a Prelude which
includes a storm - already reused from La Pietra del Paragone and to
turn up again in Il Barbiere di Siviglia - and which then runs into
the first scene in an inn on a stormy evening. Later whilst ensuring that
all the principals have their expected arias these are placed within a
variety of ensembles. The two main couples are musically distinguished from
each other and there is never a musically dull moment in the piece.
The performance here is thoroughly idiomatic and enjoyable. It would
perhaps be possible to imagine a more starry cast or, at times, greater
clarity in articulation but the gain from being recorded at live
performances is immense. Fortunately there are few stage noises and the
applause at the end of numbers is not excessively long. If I praise the two
female singers especially this implies no lack of quality in the men. The
orchestra play with real rhythmic verve and understanding. The voices are
well distinguished from each other and the singers are always alive to the
words and the situations. Indeed above all this is an ensemble performance
of an ensemble opera. The only possible complaints might be of the short
measure - surely Naxos could have found something suitable to give a more
generous playing time - and of the lack of a text or translation. This is
especially frustrating when the singers so relish the words and listeners
may therefore not unreasonably feel that they are missing something. Neither
of these points is of such importance as to outweigh the sheer pleasure that
is provided by such an idiomatic and joyous performance of this strangely
neglected work.
John Sheppard
An idiomatic and joyous performance of this strangely neglected work.