Some time ago I decided to go through my entire collection of operas on CD, video, DVD, in alphabetical order.
If you have been following this series, you will have noticed that it seems to have run out of steam.
This is partly because I am voraciously expanding my collection as we speak, and there are only so many hours in the day.
But it is also partly the fault of Rossini.
I got this DVD - which translates as Cinderella - in the Del Prado Season of Opera PartWorks series. I played it once and quite enjoyed it, without being captivated or even enthused. It then came up to be reviewed alphabetically, and I just couldn't bring myself to play it for ages. I thought of doing it as a sort of pre-Christmas treat, then a few weeks ago I played nearly all of Act 1. I decided to abandon it, deciding that I don't really like it.
And if you don't like it, there's not a lot one can say about it.
The story's great - but I hardly need to provide a synopsis here, except to say that the Fairy Godmother isn't there (she's behind you, oh no she isn't...) - instead there's a Wizard, who's the Prince's tutor, or something. The music isn't bad, and Cecilia Bartoli in particular sings well. Someone moaned about her facial expressions, but that's Cecilia Bartoli - if you're a fan, you like the facial expressions. And cleavage. Always cleavage with Cecilia.
It's just that the music isn't especially good. I shall just have to accept that I am not a Rossini fan. I won't go as far as to say I dislike him, but he just bores me. The Barber of Seville is saved by a couple of decent arias - okay, one great aria - but I couldn't go that far with this one. The music, especially in recitative, is just too imitative of Mozart, without the special transcendental magic of Mozza. I suppose if Covent Garden revived it with Cecilia Bartoli and Juan Diego Florez I might drag my sorry arse off to see it from the cheap seats, but otherwise, nah...
So, when I have played my currently unopened DVDs of Don Carlo, Lucia di Lammermoor, Salome and Serse and the newly ordered Otello (as yet unreleased) and Ballo, and Tosca, which sits unplayed on my Sky Box, I shall be back with a review of La Clemenza di Tito, which is a long way from being my favourite Mozart opera. That will be followed by Cosi, of which I have a fairly dire production on video, the saving grace being the wonderful music, and Cecilia Bartoli. With cleavage, of course.
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