Though not absolutely top-drawer Rossini, Bianca e Falliero, which was composed between La donna del lago and Maometto II, nonetheless has enough fine music to get the blood boiling, the toes tapping, and the hands clapping. What it lacks is memorable, hummable melodies (except for Bianca’s final aria and cabaletta, which Rossini had used to close his previous opera as well), but it is ferociously strong in rhythmically exciting pieces and showy, virtuosic singing–and this performance gives us just about everything we could want in those two departments. (Stendhal thought that the second act quartet was “among the noblest conceptions with which any maestro in the world has ever been inspired.” It’s a fine piece of ensemble writing, but it’s not that good.)
Jennifer Larmore is a properly aggressive Falliero (he’s an army general), and she gets through the character’s very difficult opening scena (and the rest of his music) with incredible aplomb, attention to the text, and a truly handsome tone. Her (his) warmhearted second-act aria, “Alma ben mio, si pura”, with its long, Bellini-like line, is just as impressive as the more razzle-dazzle moments. Majella Cullagh’s Bianca is almost as technically fine as Larmore’s Falliero, and she also pays close attention to expressing her predicament, but the voice itself has an unappealing edge to it–and subjective though a statement like that is, it affects my appreciation of everything she does.
Contareno, Bianca’s cruel father (he wants her to marry Capellio, a bass, rather than the travesti Falliero), is sung by the exciting, accomplished tenor Barry Banks, who seems to realize instinctively that Rossini occasionally used high notes and difficult roulades as expressive weapons. Ildebrando d’Arcangelo, with no solos to call his own and playing the unsympathetic Capellio, nevertheless impresses with his warm bass voice. The minor characters are just that, and it’s nice to hear the veteran British tenor Ryland Davies singing well in one of these bit parts. David Parry obviously loves this music and he knows that one of the secrets to successful Rossini performances lies in the build-ups: both the first-act finale and the can-be-run-of-the-mill aria/interruption/allegro/more allegro scenes for soloists have an inner tension that keeps the listener riveted. The playing of the LPO is terrific and Opera Rara’s sonics, which in the past occasionally have been problematic, add to the overall quality of this outing. As I said, Bianca e Falliero is perhaps not a great opera, but it’s a smashing ride, especially for bel cantists.
