Search - Gioachino Rossini, Cheryl Studer, Samuel Ramey :: Rossini - Semiramide / Studer, Larmore, Ramey, Arévalo, Marin

The best Semiramide

Mike Leone | Houston, TX, United States | 03/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Semiramide is one of my two favorite Rossini operas, the other being his comic take on the Cinderella story, La Cenerentola. But I didn't realize what a truly magnificent work Semiramide was until the release of this July 1992 recording on DG. It is one of two note-complete recordings of the opera now available, the other being the live 1992 Fonit-Cetra recording, with Iano Tamar and Gloria Scalchi under Alberto Zedda. The Met telecast from 1990, available on DVD and VHS, is also very nearly complete.While I am not a purist with regard to making cuts in an opera, some operas clearly benefit more than others from being heard complete. I think Semiramide really needs to be as complete as possible for the genius of Rossini's structure to be apparent. So I am very grateful that we have three choices, even though regretting that none of them feature Joan Sutherland, who brought this opera back into the repertoire beginning with her 1962 performances at La Scala with Giulietta Simionato. Marilyn Horne, who came to prominence shortly afterwards, was of course the ideal partner for Sutherland in this music.Nevertheless, even though we don't get Sutherland and Horne here, the cast of this recording is quite outstanding. The difficulties of their music hold no terrors for Cheryl Studer as Semiramide and Jennifer Larmore as Arsace; and in fact in the concluding section of their Act II duet, they bring a very joyful sense of "look what we can do with this music." One can quibble that Cheryl Studer doesn't have Sutherland's regal quality--nobody does--and that Jennifer Larmore doesn't sound as masculine as Marilyn Horne--ditto--but these are still outstanding performances, full of vocal excitement and elan.The tenor Idreno doesn't contribute much to the plot other than giving the other singers a chance to rest while he sings his two arias, one per act. Even so, his music is fiendishly difficult and I can't imagine it being sung any better than Frank Lopardo does here.Of course, Samuel Ramey, the Assur, has been the pre-eminent Rossini bass for a couple of decades, and this recording shows why. He was still at the very top of his form at the time this recording was made, and he sails through his music in a way that would be beyond the capabilities of most basses.Ion Marin, the conductor, was a new name to me at the time this recording came out. Even so, he captures all the energy of the opera; my only complaint is that he takes the opening slow section of the overture a bit too quickly. Other than that, this is the way Semiramide should go.I consider this recording to be the first choice for a Semiramide for any opera collection, although no serious collection would be complete without versions by Sutherland and Horne, and preferably together. Currently Horne's Arsace is available on the Met video, with June Anderson as Semiramide, and Sutherland's assumption of the queen is available in a 1968 live performance on Opera d'Oro with Monica Sinclair as a perfectly competent Arsace.The 1965 commercial recording with both Sutherland and Horne is not currently available in the United States but can be still be found at amazon.co.uk. As much as I want to recommend it, I can't, partly because of John Serge's rather ugly-sounding though accurate Idreno (he only gets to sing one of his two arias, which is probably just as well), but mostly because of Richard Bonynge's lifeless conducting, which I find very difficult to sit through after hearing the excitement Marin brings to the score. Bonynge is leagues better than his 1965 self in the 1971 Lyric Opera of Chicago performance which of course features both Sutherland and Horne, and which is regrettably not available at the present time; it could formerly be found on the Bella Voce label through Qualiton Records, and is well worth searching for. In fact, if I were connected with Decca/London, I would immediately begin negotiations with Lyric Opera of Chicago for the rights to issue this superb performance and drop the current recording from the catalogue altogether.But this recording is the Semiramide to own if you're having only one, for the completeness of the text, the four fine principals and the marvelous conducting. Once you've got this recording safely stowed in your collection, start hunting around for Sutherland's and Horne's interpretations of this music as an important supplement."

At last a triumphant rival to the Sutherland-Horne classic

Charlus | 12/21/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Why this recording was, on release,dismissed as an also-ran says more about reverence for pedigree than about listening to what's here. First of all, it reflects the entire score (the Boynynge/Sutherland/Horne version from the 60s does not); second, the male parts are much better cast in the new recording (Sam Ramey in particular seems energized by all the Babylonian bluster, while Frank Lopardo's mellifluous tenor is welcome); and third, Cheryl Studer as Semiramide and Jennifer Larmore in the breeches role of Arsace are astonishing (the great duet, "Ah, quel giorno" is singing of glittering virtuosity). While Sutherland and Horne had a partnership that will go down in history, these two gals from Midlands, Michigan and Atlanta, Georgia richly demonstrate that the art of bel canto is alive and kicking. This is a marvellous set, showing that Rossini in his "opera seria" mode was not going to bore audiences blind with a stagey pageant like "Idomeneo;" he remained as crafty a showman as in his comic piffles."

Finally, a thoroughly brilliant Semiramide

Charlus | NYC | 04/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Note-complete and very well sung, I doubt that Rossini's Semiramide has received a better performance since the days of Grisi and Lablache. This was Rossini's last Italian opera, and his greatest, grandest opera seria. A truly grandiose performance was very much needed, and here it is!



No, it's not a very Italianate performance. Cheryl Studer's carefully placed voice and well-supervised Kopftöne suggest a very high-level performance in 19th Century Vienna or Dresden rather than Venice or Milan, and Larmore, whose plummy "I-have-a-hot-potato-in-my-mouth" timbre reminds me of Risë Stevens, will never make me forget the unique Marilyn Horne; but both singers have good voices and brilliant techniques, and they really reach the heights in the famous duet Giorno d' orrore, which Adelina Patti and Sofia Scalchi used to turn 19th century heads with.



Excellent as the women are, their contributions must be seen in contrast with the never-to-be-replicated Sutherland/Horne performance on DECCA. That recording's male cast, however, can't hold a candle to this one, and this is where this DGG production hits a bull's eye. Sam Ramey is simply superb as Assur, turning every Rossinian phrase with an authority and a vocal grace that have to be heard to be believed. Lopardo, though not perhaps a star, sings Idreno's unbelievably difficult, florid obstacle courses with real brilliance and, again, vocal grace: if it can't be made to sound easy, it is no use trying it. WHAT singing!



Ion Marin is a fast-and-steady modern metronome, not as "blatant" or "callow" as he has been portrayed in the English press (the fact that this recording was made in London, but does not involve any English individuals, a plus in my book, probably irritated some of their notoriously patriotic critics) but I do prefer Richard Bonynge's more sensitive, more romantic, more expressively molded phrasing on DECCA. Marin, however, is leading an absolutely note-complete performance, and sometimes one does feel a need to just get on with it! He has, at any rate, a faultless cast going at full steam.



The recorded sound is good, and the English orchestra and chorus are thoroughly competent. A MAJOR accomplishment."