Il barbiere di Siviglia

Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia opera to libretto by Cesare Sterbini. Directed 2016 by Annabel Arden at Glyndebourne. Stars Danielle de Niese (Rosina), Alessandro Corbelli (Dr Bartolo), Björn Bürger (Figaro), Taylor Stayton (Count Almaviva), Christophoros Stamboglis (Basilio), and Janis Kelly (Berta). Enrique Mazzola conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra (Leader Pieter Schoeman) and The Glyndebourne Chorus (Chorus Master Jeremy Bines). Designs by Joanna Parker; lighting by James Farncombe; movement by Toby Sedgwick. Directed for TV by François Roussillon; Executive Producer George Bruell. Sung in Italian. Released 2017, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Richard Osburne, writing in the August 2017 Gramophone (page 90) was not well impressed by this production complaining of tiresome acting by Danielle de Niese, overly busy and illogical directing by Annabel Arden, and excessive use of blue in the designs (leading to scenes that are too dark on the small HT screen). Here the official trailer (with lots of blue):

Buy on Amazon

What's New

Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.