MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet AmazonUK AmazonUS

 

Gioacchino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
Songs and Duets
Soirées musicales (ca. 1830-35):
La promessa [3:42]; Il rimprovero [3:22]; L'orgia  [3:25]; La partenza [4:38]; L'invito [3:37]; La pastorella dell'Alpi [2:28]; La danza [3:15]; La gita in gondola [6:19]; La pesca [3:53]; La serenata [4:10]; La regata veneziana [4:26]
Péchés de vieillesse (1857-68):
L'esule [4:22]; Mi lagnerò tacendo [2:46]; La chanson du bébé [2:44]; L'orpheline du Tyrol [5:04]; Adieux à la vie! [4:29]; Les amants de Séville [5:27]; Anzoleta avanti la regata [3:30]; Anzoleta co passa la regata [2:17]; Anzoleta dopo la regata [3:58]
Miah Persson (soprano); Stella Doufexis (mezzo); Bruce Ford (tenor); Roger Vignoles (piano)
rec. Potton Hall, Suffolk, England, 18-20 April 2007, DDD
Booklet notes in English, French and German; sung texts in the original in Italian or French with English translation; Artists biographies in English only
HYPERION CDA67647 [78.59]
Experience Classicsonline

In my review of Alessandro Marangoni’s wonderful Naxos recording of Péchés de vieillesse, I mentioned that the Rossini operas tend to overshadow his later works. This might possibly be one of the main reasons why they are so often neglected. This is particularly true of his songs: both the collection that forms Les Soirées musicales as well as the pieces included in the fourteen volumes of Péchés de vieillesse.
 
Being a great admirer of Rossini’s late works, I became quite excited at the prospect of listening to and reviewing an entire CD of his songs, with excellent singers accompanied by a wonderful pianist. This recital offering from Hyperion does not disappoint. It is very enjoyable, with delightful performances by Swedish soprano Miah Persson, German-Greek mezzo Stella Doufexis and American tenor Bruce Ford. Roger Vignoles - one of Britain’s most outstanding musicians - accompanies and is excellent from beginning to end.
 
Rossini’s songs are wonderful little gems for a variety of reasons; not only because of their wit and humour but also because they express a wide range of emotions, from sadness and melancholy to happiness and joyful love. The first eight pieces are possibly the most famous and make the biggest impact. Musically, they are based on popular dance forms and national dances. La partenza, beautifully sung by Bruce Ford, is in the tempo of a minuet; La pastorella dell’Alpi suitably follows the slow rhythm of a waltz from Landel (a region in the North of Austria). The most celebrated of them all, La danza deploys a dazzling Neapolitan tarantella. This is a fabulous song, a show-piece for a tenor, which was made famous in recent years by the late Luciano Pavarotti. He sang it with unequalled vivid and vibrant expression, excelling in the higher notes, giving the piece a virtuosic edge that never failed to excite audiences. Bruce Ford delivers the piece very effectively, appearing to delight in its rhythm and youthful tone but there is a little strain in his voice in the more difficult passages. The song is a lively encouragement to love, leading young couples to dance. Ford expresses these feelings with sufficient energy but he lacks the natural exuberance of a native Italian, or of a Latin singer; and I must confess that I missed Pavarotti’s interpretation.
 
The first time I heard Swedish soprano Miah Persson was at the 2006 Glyndebourne Festival where she sang Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. I was impressed with her beautiful legato, delicate phrasing and deeply-felt sentiment. She brings these qualities to her interpretation of Rossini’s songs and duets, with particular brilliance in La promessa and Adieu à la vie. She delivers La chanson du bébé with great humour and excellent comic timing, revelling in the playful sounds that the baby makes. She is equally excellent in the love duet with Ford, La serenata, a piece which is as lyrical as it is elegant, delivered convincingly and with grace by both singers.
 
Stella Doufexis is an established singer who has worked with some of the greatest conductors of the present day including Haitink, Rattle and Abbado. She possesses a rich tone, beautifully modulated phrasing and convincing expression. These qualities shine in the duet with Persson La regata veneziana from Les Soirées musicales and especially in the three canzonette of La regata veneziana from Péchés de vieillesse. Here Doufexis excels in expressing the different moods that the songs describe and using her warm, round mezzo voice to best effect. Her rendition is graceful and pleasantly passionate, particularly in the last song. She is never over-sentimental or too emotional. I was a little disappointed by her performance in the duet with Ford Les amants de Séville, where I thought her interpretation was a little dry. She does not sing with the same fluid ease displayed in her solo songs and appears slightly uncomfortable. Rossini wrote this beautiful duet for tenor and contralto. This is not a very common combination and is actually understandable that a mezzo-soprano, like Doufexis, excellent though she is, seems not to feel at home at this point. Ford on the other hand, sings his part convincingly, demonstrating here why he has managed a very successful career for over two decades.
 
On the whole, the three singers deliver beautiful interpretations of Rossini’s wonderful late pieces. They are superbly accompanied by Roger Vignoles. His playing, like Rossini’s writing, is sophisticated and skilful, brilliantly supporting the vocal line but with expressive individuality. Here it is impossible to forget the omnipresent piano as can sometimes happen with some pianists when they accompany singers. The piano intelligently cushions the singers but it is a soloist in its own right - almost a fourth voice - which sets the perfect background that sustains the three human voices.
 
This CD of Rossini’s songs and duets is not only a delightful, enjoyable recording but it also makes a compelling case for singers to include the composer’s late works in their recital repertoire. Les soirées musicales and the vocal pieces from Péchés de vieillesse really deserve to be recorded as a full programme. The most famous songs are sporadically included in recitals and CDs, particularly by tenors but these charming, witty and accomplished pieces merit more. Hyperion, Ford, Doufexis, Persson and Vignoles should be congratulated for their achievement; very pleasing and distinguished.
 
Margarida Mota-Bull
 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.