Composer of the Week - Gioachino Rossini - Episode 2

Today, Rossini moves to Naples, then the capital of the operatic world. There he meets the prima donna who was to become his own, personal prima donna – Isabella Colbran, later Mrs Rossini. And in Vienna he meets Beethoven, who tells him to stick to comedy; happily for posterity, Rossini respectfully ignores the advice. Today’s programme includes extracts from his tragic masterpiece Ermione, which Rossini liked to call his ‘little William Tell’. Ermione, Sinfonia Prague Philharmonic Chorus / Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo / Claudio Scimone(cond) Erato 2292-45790-2 T1 Ermione, Act I scene 6 Chris Merritt (Oreste), Cecilia Gasdia (Ermione), Ernesto Palacio (Pirro), Elisabetta Tandura (Cleone & Cefisa), Margarita Zimmermann (Andromaca), William Matteuzzi (Pilade), Mario Bolognesi (Attalo), Simone Alaimo (Fenicio) / Prague Philharmonic Chorus / Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo / Claudio Scimone (cond) Erato 2292-45790-2 T1-3 Ermione, Act II scenes 2 [omitting opening recit] and 3 Cecilia Gasdia (Ermione), Simone Alaimo (Fenicio) Elisabetta Tandura (Cleone)? / Prague Philharmonic Chorus / Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo / Claudio Scimone (cond) Erato 2292-45790-2 T8-14 Ermione, Act II scenes 5 & 6 Chris Merritt (Oreste), Cecilia Gasdia (Ermione), William Matteuzzi (Pilade) / Prague Philharmonic Chorus / Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo / Claudio Scimone (cond) Erato 2292-45790-2 T 17-20