Rossini wrote some scintillating Overtures, he also composed some rubbish to tack on the end of them called Operas!, yes i love his Overtures, but hate his Operas, this disc represents the first disc of Rossini's Overtures i ever bought, way back in 1992, and even though it's with a minor Orchestra, and a fairly unknown Conductor, i find this disc to be one of the best things that Naxos has ever done, Halasz really gets the rhythms right, he sounds like a Rossini expert, other discs i have tried can sound a bit flat and ordinary by comparison [but Chailly is also very good], not a disc i would be attracted to now, the front cover is naff, what were Naxos thinking!, but the music inside is so good.
Michael Halasz is Hungarian, he's now 74, and he made this recording in 1989, like i said above, the front booklet picture is poor, i'm not keen on paintings, and Naxos are certainly defective in this area, they need to employ some people to look at bettering their visual department, though i do see improvements slowly coming.
On this listen it was actually track 6 'The Italian Girl In Algiers' i like the best, not my usual favourite, what keeps Halasz's interpretations fresh maybe his slightly fast speeds, keeping the rhythms moving, there's a nice propulsion going on, the sound might be somewhat reverberant, but it's still involving, i like the nice ring of the percussion, i feel Halasz gets the staccato / legato right, lazy blurs here, but then precise and crisp snaps there, Rossini has so many 'layers' to each of his Overtures, like wheels in the workings of a watch, different speeds and even different directions, but they all work together to make music, the opening is all low string pizzicato and oboe Soloist [0:00-0:46], and of course each of his Overtures 'explode' at some point [1:46-2:18], with whistling flutes, but like Rossini is, he has a further 'explosion' as if the other was just an introduction [2:18-3:00], and now we're really going!, everyone in the orchestra is so busy, but Rossini has that way of ending sections, as if they were merely designed to bring in the real music, and we seem to come to the 'real start' again [3:07+], this is the genius of Rossini's music, and the piccolos chatter away [3:22-3:28 & 3:42-3:48], the woodwind make it an almost birdsong chorus, the build up to some of these explosions is so well paced, it's like Rossini's purposely tying you up, and then releasing you to get that feeling of being set free!, the piccolos are certainly central to his ideas here, and the chattering away of the bassoons in the background are nicely audible enough, the four loud cracks from the percussion are exciting [5:00-5:08], a nice reverberant noise, and the loud busyness by the whole orchestra [5:31-5:54] is so exciting all over again, of course Rossini is repetitive, playing sections all over again, and in this recording they seem to get more and more faster and louder the second time around, building up to a nice frenzied ending, and i love the frantic strings [7:43-7:46], in the accompanying YouTube video below, Marriner only takes maybe 20 seconds longer, and yet he sounds so pedantic in certain sections!, no wonder Halasz sounds so thrilling, it's a breathtaking performance taken at some terrific motoring speeds.
Here's Neville Marriner conducting 'The Italian Girl In Algiers' on YouTube.
Michael Halasz is Hungarian, he's now 74, and he made this recording in 1989, like i said above, the front booklet picture is poor, i'm not keen on paintings, and Naxos are certainly defective in this area, they need to employ some people to look at bettering their visual department, though i do see improvements slowly coming.
On this listen it was actually track 6 'The Italian Girl In Algiers' i like the best, not my usual favourite, what keeps Halasz's interpretations fresh maybe his slightly fast speeds, keeping the rhythms moving, there's a nice propulsion going on, the sound might be somewhat reverberant, but it's still involving, i like the nice ring of the percussion, i feel Halasz gets the staccato / legato right, lazy blurs here, but then precise and crisp snaps there, Rossini has so many 'layers' to each of his Overtures, like wheels in the workings of a watch, different speeds and even different directions, but they all work together to make music, the opening is all low string pizzicato and oboe Soloist [0:00-0:46], and of course each of his Overtures 'explode' at some point [1:46-2:18], with whistling flutes, but like Rossini is, he has a further 'explosion' as if the other was just an introduction [2:18-3:00], and now we're really going!, everyone in the orchestra is so busy, but Rossini has that way of ending sections, as if they were merely designed to bring in the real music, and we seem to come to the 'real start' again [3:07+], this is the genius of Rossini's music, and the piccolos chatter away [3:22-3:28 & 3:42-3:48], the woodwind make it an almost birdsong chorus, the build up to some of these explosions is so well paced, it's like Rossini's purposely tying you up, and then releasing you to get that feeling of being set free!, the piccolos are certainly central to his ideas here, and the chattering away of the bassoons in the background are nicely audible enough, the four loud cracks from the percussion are exciting [5:00-5:08], a nice reverberant noise, and the loud busyness by the whole orchestra [5:31-5:54] is so exciting all over again, of course Rossini is repetitive, playing sections all over again, and in this recording they seem to get more and more faster and louder the second time around, building up to a nice frenzied ending, and i love the frantic strings [7:43-7:46], in the accompanying YouTube video below, Marriner only takes maybe 20 seconds longer, and yet he sounds so pedantic in certain sections!, no wonder Halasz sounds so thrilling, it's a breathtaking performance taken at some terrific motoring speeds.
Here's Neville Marriner conducting 'The Italian Girl In Algiers' on YouTube.
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