Stars: Cecilia Bartoli, David Kubler, Gino Quilico, Carlos Feller, Stuttgart Radio SO, Gabriele Ferro

Director: Michael Hampe

Summary: Rossini's famous opera performed at the Schwetzinger Festpiele in 1988.

IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA was Rossini's seventeenth opera, completed by the young composer in a matter of weeks, and was to become one of the key stage works of the first half of the nineteenth century. This recording of the Opera Buffa's live performance at the 1988 Schwetzinger Festspiele benefits from Michael Hampe's humorous stage direction and Gabrielo Ferro's command of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. Renowned soprano Cecilia Bartoli is cast as Rosina, the wealthy young charge of Dr Bartolo and apple of many an admirer's eye.

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

The point of a good production of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Sivigliais to have a Rosina and a Figaro who will knock your socks off in their respective arias, while holding back enough in all those crescendo ensembles in which the farce plot reaches its several culminations that the other stars get a chance to shine too. Cecilia Bartoli and Gino Quilico give full-blooded enough performances when on stage by themselves that self-effacement seems far from imminent, yet both are capable of less, and give it when it is needed. Of the others, David Kuebler is an attractively raffish Almaviva, while Robert Lloyd turns Basilio into a memorable cameo. Gabriele Ferro is one of the most intelligent of Rossini conductors--he understands the relationship between the pulse of the music and its dramatic function, and he is also outstanding in the delicacy of phrasing, even in climaxes, that ensures that every voice, every instrument, gets the moment of glory Rossini intended. Michael Hampe's solid reliable unfussy production keeps everything moving without drawing attention to itself.

The DVD has subtitles in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, as well as trailers for other Arthaus Musik discs. --Roz Kaveney

Aspect Ratio:	4:3 Full Frame
Main Language:	Italian
Subtitles:	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Year:	1988
Release Date:	April 2, 2001
Runtime:	157 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	100 090
Keywords:	Music, Barber, Seville, Barbiere, Siviglia, Opera, Works, Stage, Di, Classical, Rossini, Performing, Operetta, Il, Arts
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts