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DVD Description
John Cox's innovative production for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, with good-looking, authentic designs by William Dudley, put plenty of fizz into this old favourite and was a real hit with the critics. The usual Glyndebourne hallmarks of team work and extended rehearsal paid handsome dividends in this production, filmed in 1982. American soprano excels as the pout Rosina, and John Rawnsley gives a virtuoso performance as the witty barber Figaro.
Cast: Figaro -- John Rawnsley
Rosina -- Maria Ewing
Count Almaviva -- Max-Rene Cosotti
Bartolo -- Claudio Desderi
Basilio -- Ferruccio Furlanetto
The Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted by Sylvain Cambreling
Special Features
- Language: Italian
- Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun in Seville,
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This review is from: Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) [DVD] [2004] [NTSC] (DVD)
This Barber of Seville is a funny version of this comic opera. The story is not over the top. John Rawnsley is a great Figaro with his manners and facial expressions. Maria Ewing is a real cross-grained adolescent. Claudio Desderi is a credible don Bartolo. Max-Rene Cosotti is a soft and loving count Almaviva and plays a great drunk soldier. The other parts are also done well. Even my fifteen year old son liked the story.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini,
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This review is from: Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) [DVD] [2004] [NTSC] (DVD)
Rossini'is most popular opera, The Barber of Seville, tells the story of Count Almaviva (Max-Rene Cosotti)) who is in love with Rosina (Maria Ewing). Her bad tempered guardian Dr Bartolo (Claudio Desderi), wishes to marry her for her dowry. The count seeks the help of Figaro (John Rawnsley), a mischievous barber. Figaro suggests that the count should wear various amounts of disguises, to get close to Rosina, which results in hilarious consequences.The genius of Rossini's composition is magnificent, fast and entertaining, it's immediately recognizable overture and it's lesser known pieces are equally as marvelous, keeping the viewers on the edge of their seats, with spellbinding effects. Max-Rene Cosotti was wonderful as the count, his voice was light and skillful. His performance of the aria "Ecco ridente in cielo", which opens the opera (after the overture), sounded beautiful. There was something that annoyed me about him, which I cant quite place, but his singing was stunning. Rosina was played by one of my favorite Mezzo Soprano's, the brilliant Maria Ewing. Her voice was beautiful, singing "Una voce poco fa" perfectly. Her funny over the top acting and jerky movements was completely fitting for the role in contrast to her dramatically played Carmen, which shows her versatile acting ability. Claudio Desderi is also very good, playing Bartolo, with great energy and power in his voice. However, the best performance was given by John Rawnsley, his voice was amazing, accompanied by hilarious facial expressions. His rendition of "Largo al factotum" was brilliant, his timing perfect and his movements excellently coordinated with the music. He is definitely one of the best Figaro's I have seen and heard. The production is amazing, with great set designs and costumes. The London Philmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling, was phenomenal, along with the superb Glyndebourne Chorus, this was an excellent production and definitely worth purchasing.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good, solid production of an operatic gem,
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This review is from: Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) [DVD] [2004] [NTSC] (DVD)
Once, a friend of Richard Wagner's (yes, he had a few) discovered him sitting in the shadows at the back of an opera house box watching "The Barber of Seville."
"How I love Rossini," said the great man, "but you must not tell my Wagnerites. They'd never forgive me." This is a good-looking, bright, energetic and wholly entertaining production of opera's reigning comedic warhorse. If the singing is hardly likely to make hard-core fans throw away their recordings with Callas or Berganza, it is nevertheless perfectly respectable. This is one of the all-too rare productions in which it appears that the stage director has bothered to read the text. Why, wonder of wonders, when young, lovesick Count Almaviva is supposed to be singing a serenade, the director actually has him do just that. And when Figaro, the town barber, is supposed to be shaving Dr Bartolo, the comic sort-of villain, he actually applies foamy shaving cream. Astonishing! Maria Ewing sings pretty well as she manages to be strange-looking-but-beautiful-anyway, funny, indomitable and adorable all at once. This is probably as good a DVD as you might hope to find for introducing a newbie to the mad, illogical and ultimately addictive world of opera. Five stars. A NOTE ON CASTING: One Amazon US reviewer has noted with dismay that Maria Ewing who sings Rosina is actually identified as a soprano, not as a mezzo-soprano for which the role was written. Be reassured. More than a few sopranos have succeeded as Rosina in the nearly two hundred years since "The Barber" was premiered. Rossini, himself, coached soprano Adelina Patti in the part. She scored a triumph. (She later became so famous that the barbershop standard "Sweet Adeline" was written in her honor.) Closer to our own time, a certain Greek-American lady named Callas had some success, too.
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