Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia / Prey · Berganza · Alva · Dara · Montarsolo · LSO · Abaddo

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
This is a nicely entertaining Barber, with just the right sense of fun running through it to avoid slapstick and still bring a sophisticated smile to one's lips. Teresa Berganza is so right, so unexaggerated, so pyrotechnically capable yet filled with good taste, that it's impossible to find fault with her Rosina. Luigi Alva's Count is classy and honey-toned up to the top of the staff, where the voice simply stops blooming; he's also not as good as one might wish with Rossini's difficult fast music. Hermann Prey's Figaro is similarly impaired--the coloratura is just not pristine--but his style, attitude, and intelligence are pure gold; he's vastly entertaining. The other low-voiced men are ideal Rossinians. Abbado holds the whole thing together--this is a very satisfying performance. Robert Levine

Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia / Prey · Berganza · Alva · Dara · Montarsolo · LSO · Abaddo, Music, Gioachino Rossini, Claudio Abbado, Hermann Prey, Teresa Berganza, London Symphony Orchestra, Enzo Dara, Paolo Montarsolo Luigi Alva, Classical, Classical Music, Italian Romantic Opera, Opera, Opera / Operetta / Oratorio, Opera/Operetta
Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia / Prey · Berganza · Alva · Dara · Montarsolo · LSO · Abaddo
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Bufa without being buffoonish
  • Abbado's 1971 BARBER has never been out of the catalogs....
  • Brilliant!
  • VHS
  • The most wonderfull Barber
 Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia / Prey · Berganza · Alva · Dara · Montarsolo · LSO · Abaddo
Gioachino Rossini , Claudio Abbado , Hermann Prey , Teresa Berganza , London Symphony Orchestra , and Enzo Dara, Paolo Montarsolo Luigi Alva
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000006NXT
Release Date: 1998-05-12

Tracks:

  1. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Sinfonia
  2. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Piano, pianissimo (Conte)
  3. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Ecco, ridento in cielo...Ehi, Fiorello? (Conte)
  4. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Largo al factotum
  5. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Se il mio nome (Conte) (Rosina)
  6. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: All'idea di quel metallo (Conte)
  7. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Una voce poco fa (Rosina)
  8. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: La callunnia n venticello (Basilio)
  9. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Dunque io son (Rosina)
  10. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: A un dottor de la mia sorte (Bartolo)

Tracks:

  1. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Finora in questa camera...Ehi, di casa! (Conte) (Bartolo) (Rosina) (Basilio)
  2. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Alto l(Bartolo) (Conte) (Rosina) (Basilio)
  3. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Ma, signor... (Bartolo) (Basilio) (Rosina) (Conte)
  4. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Ma vedil il mio destino...Pace e gioia (Conte) (Bartolo)
  5. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Contro un cor (Rosina) (Conte) (Bartolo)
  6. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Quando mi sei vicina (Bartolo)
  7. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Don Basilio! (Rosina) (Conte) (Bartolo) (Basilio)
  8. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Il vecchiotto cerca moglie
  9. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Gewittermusik
  10. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Ah! qual colpo inaspettato (Rosina) (Conte)
  11. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Di selice innesto (Rosina)

Amazon.com essential recording

This is a nicely entertaining Barber, with just the right sense of fun running through it to avoid slapstick and still bring a sophisticated smile to one's lips. Teresa Berganza is so right, so unexaggerated, so pyrotechnically capable yet filled with good taste, that it's impossible to find fault with her Rosina. Luigi Alva's Count is classy and honey-toned up to the top of the staff, where the voice simply stops blooming; he's also not as good as one might wish with Rossini's difficult fast music. Hermann Prey's Figaro is similarly impaired--the coloratura is just not pristine--but his style, attitude, and intelligence are pure gold; he's vastly entertaining. The other low-voiced men are ideal Rossinians. Abbado holds the whole thing together--this is a very satisfying performance. Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Bufa without being buffoonish.......2007-01-06

Excellent recording for a newcomer! If you can only have one Barber I'd reccomend this one unless you're a history (opera) buff, in which case you probably can't just have one anyways! Alva and Berganza do a fantastic job (Bartoli who?) and Prey lives up to his reputation as the best Figaro ever recorded.

5 out of 5 stars Abbado's 1971 BARBER has never been out of the catalogs...........2005-11-19

Claudio Abbado's 1971 Rossini BARBER OF SEVILLE has never been out of the catalogs since it came on the market in LP format over 30 years ago, and for good reason: it's excellent. Abbado has the London Symphony playing at the very top of their form, and if he has been criticized as faceless and not having enough of Rossini's humor in his conducting of BARBER, it is a very fine performance just the same. Abbado has among the best soloists for their perspective roles: Teresa Berganza (Rosina), Luigi Alva (Almaviva), Paolo Montarsalo (Basilio) and Enzo Dara (Dr. Bartolo), with Hermann Prey (Figaro), sometimes considered too straight for the role and not "Italian" enough by some critics, but to me he sounds excellent. Berganza may be the best Rosina of the past 40 years, and really makes me wonder what all the fuss about Cecilia Bartoli, good as she is in Rossini, is about. Berganza has a maturity and richness to her voice in 1971 (she was about 35 then) which more recent Rosinas cannot match.

Some of Abbado's tempos may be slightly broader in this BARBER than in his DG video (DVD or VHS) with the same singers and the La Scala Orchestra and Chorus. But no matter: this is an excellent recording, and Abbado does not cut some arias in places as Callas/Alva/Galliera, EMI or Berganza/Corbelli/Varvizo, Decca do.

Be forewarned: Abbado re-recorded BARBER in 1992, also for DG, with Placido Domingo as Figaro and Kathleen Battle as Rosina. The orchestra is the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and is an attempt at authenticity. But it is not in the league of the Abbado/LSO reviewed here: it is patently inferior,quite frankly; despite some good solo work, the entire production does not hang together well.

So, I recommend this, as it is superior to Abbado's 1992 BARBER recording (DG).

4 out of 5 stars Brilliant!.......2001-08-15

Rossini knows how to construct an amusing and entertaining opera that people everywhere love to view. This cd contains his best opera, in my opinion. With talented singers and fast music, this is one cd to enjoy.

5 out of 5 stars VHS.......2000-03-12

If you want still more fun with this wonderful recording, try the video featuring the same cast. Hermann Prey is delighful, so is Berganza and Alva. Try the tape to see shy and frightened young Abbado! I cannot understand why certain critics insist that Prey's Figaro is not funny enough. Watch the tape and see for yourself! For me it is one of the best opera videos ever made.

5 out of 5 stars The most wonderfull Barber.......1999-12-30

As you can read in other reviews, Berganza's performance is really amazing (Listen carefully to track 7 of CD 1). The overture is very light, if you compare it with other recordings just of the overture, including Abbado's recording with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; but anyway is just beautifull. The end of the work is great too. If you like opera, you must get this recording.

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