Rossini - Opera Overtures [Halasz-Zagreb Festival Orchestra]

In my early years of compact disc buying, i bought a fair number of Naxos discs, the idea was that they were cheap, and i could get three for £15, instead of a single full priced disc for £15, that's three times the amount of discs!, it made perfect sense back in the early nineties, now because i almost exclusively buy second-hand, that now not a lot of difference, now i just go purely for the best version, plus over the years i've purged lots of iffy discs, so quite a number of those Naxos discs have fallen by the sword, this is one of those that remain, and regardless of the obscure Orchestra, these are scintillating accounts of the Overtures, been a regular in my Blog [28th August 2010 & 7th January 2013].

Michael Halasz is Hungarian, he's now 77, this recording comes from 1989, i must admit that on the whole i don't like the Naxos philosophy of artwork on their covers, and even the back inserts are not very inventive, however i've fallen in love with the music / performance on the disc.

On this listen i really enjoyed Overtures 1, 3 & 5-6, it's hard to pick a winner, but i think that The Silken Ladder just pips it, here's my thoughts on it,
5 The Silken Ladder [6:20] - Like quite a number of Rossini's Overtures, there's a long introduction, the thing takes time to really get going, with long oboe / woodwind lines, and chattering oboe later, before it explodes into full blown orchestral mode [1:54+], and even then the real heart of the piece keeps revealing itself like layers of an onion [2:22+], with excellent use of chattering oboes [2:28-2:42], the woodwind again have a dialogue back and forth [2:42-2:50], i guess Rossini likes to hand out each piece to a certain instrument, and in this Overture it's certainly the oboes, he repeats everything twice, also Rossini is an expert at rhythms, his Overtures are like well oiled machines!.

Rossini - Opera Overtures [Halasz- Zagreb Festival Orchestra] 

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.

Rossini - Opera Overtures [Chailly-National Philharmonic Orchestra] 

I played disc 1 walking on the way to Church, and disc 2 on the way back, a nice experience, it's finally getting warmer at last, it's the last month of Spring, and Summer is around the corner, the ice cold Pepsi was refreshing, and so too were these 14 Overtures by Rossini, in some ways i really feel that Rossini would have done better if he didn't become an Opera Composer, and instead concentrated on Orchestral and Chamber music, he's a master at creating complex rhythms, a veritable gearbox of speed changes, and different motor rhythms, Chailly goes beyond the ordinary one disc of the most famous, and creates a second disc, and therefore is forced to pick some of the periphery Overtures, Torvaldo E Dorliska is a great example, i haven't heard it anywhere else, and what an inventive Overture it is, full of unique ideas, i played this set last year also [3rd July 2011].

Riccaro Chailly is an Italian Conductor, born in 1953, he's now 59, and he recorded these two discs separately in 1981 [disc 1] and 1984 [disc 2].

Again it's disc one that i found best, especially Overtures 4-7 & 12, and it's the first of these four that was the best La Scala Di Seta [The Ladder Of Silk or The Silken Ladder], it's an Overture that lasts roughly 6 minutes, as in almost all of Rossini's Overtures, there's an introductory phase at the beginning [0:00-1:25], which uses extensive use of the oboe [0:13-0:31 & 0:52-1:25], i like the way that Rossini explodes the whole thing in a rhythmic forte [1:53+], and it's the oboes that end up chattering away in the mix [2:24-28 & 2:33-2:37], a really lovely effect, and the woodwind right after chatter back and forth [2:37-2:45], the way that Rossini adds these voices out of the melee is wonderful, of course what goes around comes around, and Rossini's oboes come back again for a second dose [3:23+], and the explosion comes back again, though in a different key [4:26+], the woodwind chatter is lovely a second time around [5:07-5:14], six minutes of pure dynamite!.

Here's Lanfranco Marcelletti conducting La Scala Di Seta on YouTube.

Rossini - Opera Overtures [Chailly-National Philharmonic Orchestra] 

I'm not a fan of Rossini's Operas, i think he has an overblown showy style, all virtuoso glitter and no substance, so take away his Operas, and what have you got left?, next to nothing, but he has one redeeming feature which makes me love him, his excellent Overtures, while say Verdi's Operas have a phenomenal lot more substance to them, yet he was poor-ish on the Overtures, Rossini creates here a set of 'rhythms & gears', he's the master of the Overture [along with Beethoven] as Strauss was of the Waltz, and it's good to have a double disc set of 14 Overtures, rather than the usual half dozen that you seem to get on every disc, with two discs Chailly ends up exploring some of the lesser known Overtures, and it's surprising that there's gems to be found everywhere, no filler on these discs!.

Riccaro Chailly is an Italian Conductor, born in 1953, these two discs are actually two separate issues, the first recorded in 1981, and the second in 1984, the front cover on this excellent Double Decca issue is a painting called 'The First Shot To Freedom' by William Shakespeare Burton. 

And it's the first disc which i found the most joy with [and which i listened to first], and the three Overtures which were especially exhilarating were 3 & 5-6, so it was good to hear this third Overture 'Il Viaggio A Reims' [The Journey To Reims], an Overture it was nice to acquaint myself with, as i don't know it very well, it starts off like a fair number of Rossini's Overtures, a good fanfare, and then some rather introductory music, and yet you just know Rossini, that he's building up to something with tremendous rhythms, there's a serenading oboe solo [1:05-1:34], and the flute also plays this selfsame solo tune [1:55-2:21], it takes Rossini three minutes before one of his simple waltz tunes come in [2:57+], and even then it takes times to build up into a complex motor rhythm, with lots of gears and levels, with bubbly woodwind [4:13-4:34], and then a lovely magic starts [4:34+], with a new bubbling rhythm, and this all starts again [5:51+], the last 3 minutes are superb, an Overture well worth getting to know.

Here's Peter Maag conducting the Overture to 'Il Turco In Italia' on YouTube.

Rossini - Opera Overtures [Marriner-Academy Of Saint Martin In The Fields]

Only the second Rossini disc in my Blog this year, and yet i love these Overtures, i honestly believe that Rossini was better at writing an Opera Overture than he was at writing an Opera Aria!, some of his Arias, especially 'Uno Voce A Poco Fa' are almost just empty vocal runs up and down the scales, all hot air with no poetry or even creative sizzle, but his Overtures are a different story, they lack atmosphere yes, but at the same time they're almost like military marches, there's a precision to them, and different layers and gears within the piece, they dart and move all over the place like a fairground roller-coaster, and just as fun and exciting too.

Neville Marriner was born in England in 1924, it seems he's been at the helm of The Academy Of Saint Martin In The Fields for what seems forever [he originally founded this group in 1959], he has recorded very extensively for the Philips Label, and this recording was made in 1987, Marriner is now 86, and still going strong.

On this listen i was enthralled by the opening 'La Gazza Ladra' [The Thieving Magpie], it's certainly very military as i pointed out earlier, with drum rolls and stately marches, at the start the woodwind are like a bunch of pipers leading a military band, with the snare / side drum in tow [0:12-2:05], and yet the whole thing itself is just an intro to the main piece!, a skittish tune from the strings and flute [2:30-3:29], punctuated by some military outbursts, eventually this explodes into a brass forte [3:29+], the best part of the Overture is what i can only describe as a military waltz [5:26+] side drum chatters away, while woodwind play the main tune, until this also explodes in a brass outburst [6:25+], this very section returns later [8:20+ & 9:20+], Rossini ties things up in knots, only to have that ahh moment when he looses them later in a wonderful resolution!, there's almost intros within intros with Rossini, it's start / stop, start / stop, like a traffic jam that gets going and comes to a stop again, it's such a tease, like different theme's on a circular conveyor belt, tunes / themes come around again and again, you get no plain vanilla ice cream from Rossini, he seems to throw every ingredient into his concoctions!, but the whole thing isn't chaos, but rather a precision kaleidoscope, i love Rossini for his military Opera Overtures.

Here's Marriner conducting The Thieving Magpie on YouTube.

Rossini - 8 Overtures [Halasz-Zagreb Festival Orchestra]

Another Naxos disc, and i mentioned about the awful cover artwork that this company does a couple of days ago [27th August 2010], well this isn't much better, and yet i've grown to love this disc, even though it's on a cheap label, with an unknown Orchestra and Conductor, i find these riveting and precise performances, better than full priced discs with famous Orchestras / Conductors, this is the best set of Rossini Overtures i own.

All of these Overtures were tremendous and thrilling, but on this listen, non more so than The Barber Of Seville, i seriously feel that Rossini's Overtures are better that the Operas they're attached too!, Rossini is the master of marrying tunes and rhythms, the gear changes in his Overtures are always exciting,

Here's Carlos Riazuelo conducting the Barber Of Seville Overture on YouTube.