Lacci

Zelmira was the last opera Rossini wrote for Naples, knowing it would also be his calling card to Vienna where he had been assured performances. Keen to reconcile the alleged incompatibility between ‘Italian’ melody and ‘German’ harmony, Rossini employed exciting and daring harmonies and a raft of dazzling orchestral effects in this tragedy in which a daughter saves her father, the king, and her son, from usurpers to the throne. The opera was acclaimed wherever it was heard, and this recording presents the revised and triumphant Paris version.

It is not easy for a classical recording to truly inspire these days. This one does. Seeking common ground between the music of Friedrich Haendel and Philip Glass, Anthony Roth Costanzo alternatively sings works by the two composers in his beautiful raw soprano voice. He is accompanied by the early music Essemble Les Violons du Roy. Costanzo has created a musical unity that carriers the listeners with ease between the acoustic emotions of the Baroque and the Modern. A magnificent and moving recording.