La Cenerentola was
premiered at the Teatro Valle Rome on
25 January 1817. It is the composer’s
most popular work after his Il Barbiere
di Siviglia. The libretto by Giacomo
Ferretti is not based directly on Charles
Perrault’s fairy tale of 1697 but was
plagiarised from Pavesi’s Agatina o
la virtu premiata, which had its premiere
at La Scala in 1814. Originally Rossini
was supposed to have set a different
work. However, the ecclesiastical censors
in Rome insisted on so many changes
that the composer ditched his original
plan and, with it, Ferretti’s libretto.
With less than a month to go before
the scheduled first night, Rossini asked
Ferretti to supply a new libretto. Both
composer and librettist had to make
compromises. Rossini borrowed the overture
from his own La gazzetta written for
Naples a mere five months earlier. He
also employed a local musician, Luca
Angolini, to assist him by composing
all the secco recitatives as well as
other pieces that are now omitted in
performance and recordings, which follow
Alberto Zedda’s Critical Edition. Zedda
is the conductor of this performance
and also provides an informative booklet
essay that explains the replacements
Rossini made with his own compositions
when the work was presented in Rome
in 1820. There is also an excellent
track-related synopsis and welcome artist
profiles of the singers, some of whom
are new to me.
Zedda’s conducting
is finely paced and articulated, as
one would expect from a scholar-conductor
of his experience who has immersed himself
in the existing autographs. There are
times when he is more studied than scintillating,
but rather that than the stolidity that
afflicts the podium on some recorded
versions. With the aid of the engineers
Zedda reveals the inner textures of
Rossini’s invention to advantage and
in a most welcome manner. The eponymous
heroine is sung by the American mezzo-soprano
Joyce DiDonato an alumna of the Houston
Opera Studio (class of 1998). She has
already made an impact at the best addresses
and on record. She has sung Cenerentola
at La Scala and is carded to sing Rosina
in the new Covent Garden production
of Il Barbiere by the Belgium duo of
Patrice Courier and Moshe Leiser, conducted
by Mark Elder, in December 2005. Her
coloratura mezzo has a rich body of
tone, more like that of compatriot Jennifer
Larmore than Frederica Von Stade, both
admired American Cenerentolas and Rosinas.
In Warner’s repackaging and re-issue
of Larmore’s Cenerentola (link)
I admired her vocal flexibility and
dramatic intensity. Joyce DiDonato hasn’t
quite the interpretive depth of Larmore
in the role, but her young flexible
voice is most appealing. Her introductory
Una volta (CD 1 tr.2 part) does
not convey as much pathos as it might
whilst her contribution to the final
ensemble in particular (CD 2 tr.18 part)
is a virtuoso tour de force. Hers is
an artistry to be watched in the theatre
and on record where she has already
made an impact in baroque duets with
Patricia Cioffi and a Handel opera,
both on the Virgin label.
The Granada-born José
Manuel Zapata sings Cenerentola’s prince.
He debuted as Albazar in Rossini’s Il
Turco in Italia in 2001 and has since
sung at the Pesaro Festival. His clean-cut
tenor has welcome colour and depth.
He does however tend to squeeze the
tone a little as he goes up the stave
(CD 2 tr.8). With experience and confidence
to open out his nicely timbred voice
he will be a considerable and welcome
addition to the list of Rossini tenors.
The remainder of the cast are predominantly
Italian and the performance benefits
from their facility in their own language
in those quick interchanges and ensembles
that are at the heart of the work. Each
singer does justice to his or her solo
opportunities as well, none more so
than the redoubtable and justly admired
Bruno Pratico as Don Magnifico. There
is a current tendency to cast this role
with a true bass rather than a character
buffa bass. This is fine as long as
the singer can get his voice round the
quick patter the role demands and avoid
tonal bluster or lugubriousness. Pratico
has long experience in Rossini’s buffa
roles and this is heard to advantage
here in Don Magnifico’s solos (CD 1
trs. 4 and 14, CD 2 tr.6) and in ensemble
and duet. There is the odd raw patch
in his tone but his diction and characterisation
more than compensate. The baritone Dandini
of Paolo Bordogna is sung with strong
tone and steady legato, but he lacks
the humorous facility that Bruno Pratico
has in his bones and the duet Una
segreto di importanzo, when the
servant reveals his true identity to
Don Magnifico (CD 2 tr.10), loses its
ironic humour in consequence. In the
third low-voiced role, that of the prince’s
tutor, and rather ‘fey’ guide, Alidoro,
Luca Pisaroni sings strongly. Named
the discovery of the 2001 season at
the Vienna State Opera, his steady and
sonorous rendition of Rossini’s 1820
aria for Alidoro, La del ciel nell’arcano
profondo (CD 1 tr.11), gives
hope that the Italian well of basso
cantante singers has not run dry. Patricia
Cigna as Clorinda sings strongly and
admirable characterisation and is well
contrasted with the full-toned and equally
vocally secure Tisbe of Martina Borst.
Under Zedda’s guidance neither is tempted
to ‘guy’ their roles. Applause intrudes
after solo numbers but it is measured
and as La Cenerentola is more an opera
of extended ensembles rather than display
solos it is not overly intrusive. Nor
did I note any intrusive stage noises.
On record La Cenerentola
has had a charmed life. Whilst this
issue may not challenge established
starry cast favourite versions, some
of which I discuss in my review of the
Warner issue, (link)it
not only comes at bargain price but
also enables purchasers to hear up and
coming singers whose names might otherwise
pass by. Zedda and his cast do full
justice to his Critical Edition and
this recording will find a welcome place
among the versions of this ever-captivating
work on my shelves. I recommend it to
newcomers and old-established Rossini
lovers alike.
Robert J Farr
see also
review by Goran Forsling who made
this an October Recording of the Month
Prague Chamber Choir 
