Rossini

2018 also marks 250 years since Gioachino Rossini’s death in 1868. ‘Messa per Rossini’ was composed in his memory by Verdi and 12 other notable Italian composers Verdi himself composed the concluding Libera me, which he later used in his own ‘Messa da Requiem’. This rare recording represents the work’s triumphant return to the spiritual home of Verdi and Rossini: the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

More than 25 years after his first EMI album, Antonio Pappano has established himself as a leading figure of conducting, particularly in music from his native Italy. This collection includes excerpts from all his EMI and Warner Italian recordings, from the famous Verdi and Puccini cycles with Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu to the recent praised versions of Turandot and Rossini’s sacred works.

Following the success of two recent Rossini recordings, the sacred Stabat Mater and the opera William Tell, Antonio Pappano and his Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia have taken on the composer’s late masterpiece, the Petite Messe solennelle. The soloists are Marina Rebeka, Sara Mingardo, Francesco Meli and Alex Esposito. Like the earlier-mentioned Rossini titles, the Petite Messe solennelle was recorded in the Orchestra’s acoustically fine home, the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome.

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and during World War II he conducted at the Berlin State Opera. Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was a controversial but dominant figure in European classical music from the mid-1950s until his death. Part of the reason for this was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate, he was the top-selling classical music recording artist of all time, having sold an estimated 200 million records.

It can be truly said of Adelaide di Borgogna that, like a rose, it bloomed but a day - l’espace d’un matin.” First performed in Rome on the 27th December 1817, it enjoyed very few revivals. In 2011 the Rossini Festival in Pesaro presented the second staged performance of Adelaide di Borgogna since 1825. The story of the opera was taken from a historical event that took place in the medieval period, marking the end of an independent Italian kingdom and leading to the birth of the German Holy Roman Empire through the efforts of Otto I of Saxony. Caught between political rivalry and the love of two men, Adelaide of Burgundy struggles to fight for her people and chooses Otto, the better ruler, for herself and her kingdom.

“What a pleasure to listen to Demetrio e Polibio”, wrote major Italian daily “La Stampa” after the premiere of Rossini‘s very first opera at the 2010 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, attributing it “an undeniable fascination“. The work was given its first performance in Rome in 1812.

The most comprehensive edition devoted to Gioachino Rossini marking his 150th anniversary. Born in 1792, Rossini was the most popular opera composer of his time. Although he retired from the Opera scene in 1829, he continued to compose in other genres, including sacred music, piano and chamber works. He did gather his late works under the ironic title Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age), which veils a true collection of masterworks.

“Grand, cinematic opera, in wide-screen and Surround Sound” – this is how Germany’s daily Die Welt sees Rossini’s “Guillaume Tell” (1829) from the Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro. The renowned Festival has produced an impressive staging of Rossini’s last opera, which is feared for its multitude of high notes by all tenors singing the role of Arnold – except, perhaps, the phenomenal Juan Diego Flórez, “in a class of his own” (Deutschlandradio), who interprets this role here.