ROSSINI Overtures – The Thieving Magpie; The Silken Ladder, The Barber of Seville; Semiramide; William Tell

by | May 17, 2005 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | 0 comments

ROSSINI Overtures – The Thieving Magpie; The Silken Ladder, The
Barber of Seville; Semiramide; William Tell – London Symphony
Orchestra/Pierino Gamba – Decca/JVC xrcd 24 JVCXR-0229-2, 44:29 ****:

Recorded
in Kingsway Hall, London in 1960 by Decca, this is a white-hot version
of all five of the overtures that makes even the overly-familiar ones
sound fresh and glorious. Don’t think I ever enjoyed hearing the
William Tell Overture so much since I listened to the Lone Ranger as a
kid. Things get off to a martial-sounding start with the Thieving
Magpie. Awfully witty and optimistic music for an opera story in which
a serving maid is tortured and put to death on suspicion of having
stolen a pearl necklace! No wonder we don’t hear Rossini’s operas much
anymore, but his overtures will never be ignored if they’re always
played like this. I know I have some of these in other versions on both SACD and LP but I found the xrcd such attractive listening I didn’t even both with a comparison.
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