Gianluigi Gelmetti conducts these Rossini overtures with all the verve, swagger, and finesse they require. He really sets the pulse racing with his ardent, energetic renderings of La scala di seta and The Barber of Seville, while skillfully bringing out the melodic beauties and colorful orchestration of Guillaume Tell, La Cenerentola, and Tancredi. The Stuttgart Radio Symphony players match Gelmetti’s electricity with their own unfettered enthusiasm. The spacious recordings give a bit too much prominence to the bass drum (so much so that parts of L’italiana in Algeri sound almost like a 1970s disco hit), but otherwise they serve the music handsomely.
Gelmetti takes the helm of the Orchestra dell Toscana for the three Barber of Seville excerpts, with Thomas Hampson as Figaro displaying his skill at negotiating Rossini’s fiendishly difficult bel canto writing, and Susanne Mentzer singing earnestly as Rosina. They both make a solid presentation of the music, though Hampson’s light-ish baritone and Mentzer’s lack of sparkle certainly won’t displace anyone’s favorite Figaros and Rosinas of the past. Still, these selections should serve to whet the appetite of those who’ve never heard the complete opera.
