Loved it | Rossini - Moise et Pharaon / Frittoli, Ganassi, Abdrazakov, Schrott, Filianoti, Muzek,...

Surprisingly dull! | Rossini - Moise et Pharaon / Frittoli, Ganassi, Abdrazakov, Schrott, Filianoti, Muzek, Giuseppini, Ceron, ... | Ildar Abdrazakov, Erwin Schrott

DVDs:


	• Rossini - Moise et Pharaon / Frittoli, Ganassi, Abdrazakov, Schrott, Filianoti, Muzek, Giuseppini, Ceron, ... Ildar Abdrazakov, Erwin Schrott Tdk DVD Video, 2005 average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

MOISE ET PHARAON "LET MY PEOPLE GO!"

I was unfamiliar with most of this music except for the ensemble just before the parting of the Red Sea. Hands down, Barbara Frittoli steals the vocal honors with Ildar Abdrazakov as Moise and Sonia Ganassi as the Pharaoh's wife snapping at her heels. The other seven singers are totally up to the task and demands of this score. This work has oratorio writen all over it. There simply isn't any action on the stage except for the ballet and parting of the Red Sea. The first performance of this work was in Naples in 1818. Rossini wrote his mother: "the oratorio is more or less finished and it's going very well, but in a very highly elevated style. I don't know if these macaroni-eaters will get it!" Well, this "macaroni-eater" would like to know what in the world the ballet is all about. What does the bearded guy in the black cocktail dress dancing with one of the soliders have to do with anything? The ballet does contain some good music otherwise I'd say they could get rid of it. The parting of the Red Sea is very effective. Not as spectacular as the scene in the DeMille movie, but one is limited with the stage craft at hand. Ricardo Muti does wonders with the enlarged orchestra. The set looks like a sand storm swept through the Pharaoh's Palace. There are stretches of music and recitative which will have you checking your watch for the time butI can recommend buying this seldom done work just for the novelty of it all. The sound and visual qualities are first rate.

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Loved it

This is a real treat. The entire, with the exception of maybe the Amenophis all do a really great job. Barbara Frittoli sounds magnificent. Buy, it's good.

Surprisingly dull!

I picked this up at the library and was delighted to see Erwin Schrott in the cast. He is a fabulous baritone and a fantastic actor. I've seen him as Figaro, absolutely the best, and as Dulcamara, ditto. (He is from Uruguay not Germany.) His talent was wasted on the part of Pharaon here, which was basically a stand and sing part. I hope no one will judge his talent based on this role.

Actually, all the parts were the stand and sing sort. Only Amenophis, sung by Giuseppe Filanoti, who was a superb tenor in the role, could display a range of emotions, including love, joy and anger. His love interest, Anai, sung beautifully by Barbara Frittoli, was sad and conflicted through the entire opera. In fact, all the Jewish parts, from Moses to the chorus were sad and dreary. They were slaves after all. Okay, Moses was at least rebellious. And Tomislav Muzek as Eliezer was the only singer who actually sounded like he was singing French.

Sonia Ganassi sang the role of Sinaide very well and Ildar Abdrazakov was commanding as Moise.

Overall, this opera just dragged on and on and on. I thought the ballet at the beginning of Act III would never end. It was so awful, with geometric hand motions--looked like swimming--I fast forwarded to get through it and even that took longer than expected! I really love Rossini, but this opera, even with the parting the Red Sea, was just dull, dull, dull. I'm glad I didn't buy it.

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Grand Grand Opera

Rossini reworked his Italian "Mose in Egitto" of 1818 into the French Grand Opera "Moise et Pharaon" in 1827 and produced a Grand operatic spectacle. Though some of the intimacy of "Mose" is lost, the overall effect of larger than life dramatic forces at work is overwelming. The La Scala production is right on target. The chorus does itself proud. I replay time and again the great choruses. WOW, what sound, what force, what excitement! The soloist are also very good. The Moise of Abdrazakov is commanding and believable as a leader of his people agaist all odds. The voice I would like to hear in more Rossini is that of the Amenophis, Giuseppe Filanoti. A sweet, subtle sound with bel canto ability. The Ballet is silly. That scarecrow prima should have retired decades ago; the men were athletic/good. I certainly hope La Scala's ballet troop is better than shown here. The "couchee-couchee" choreography was a parody of a back-alley circus. But it's the music that counts and it is grand!

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Read the Other Reviews

Most of what I intended to write has been expressed at length in other reviews. Let me just stress that "it's all about the music" and the performance thereof, which is superb: every note in tune, every phrase well articulated. The ensemble is as balanced as imaginable, though at times the miking of the singers is less than perfect. One reviewer denigrates the performance of Giuseppe Filianotti as Amenophis. I totally disagree. Filianotti is the least static, the most expressive, and in his use of dynamics the most musical of the whole cast. Besides, his role is the most interesting; he's the only character whose "choices" reveal development. Don't expect anything coherent, theologically or historically, from the libretto. It's the music that speaks of despair and triumph.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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