Composer of the Week - Gioachino Rossini - Episode 4

Rossini is often characterized as lazy; in fact ‘workaholic’ would be a more accurate description. ‘He has toiled long and wearily enough’, wrote his father in a letter of 1827, referring to the composer’s almost superhuman productivity over the previous decade and a half. Today, Donald Macleod talks us through Rossini’s two-act musical melodrama Bianca e Falliero, the final production of one of the composer’s busiest ever years, 1819. Bianca e Falliero, Act I scene 1, Introduzione 'Dalle lagune Adriache' (coro) 'Pace alfin per l'Adria splende' (Contareno, Capellio) Barry Banks (Contareno), Capellio (Ildebrando D'Arcangelo) / Geoffrey Mitchell Choir / London Philharmonic Orchestra / David Parry (cond.) Opera rara ORC20 CD1 T2-3 Bianca e Falliero, Act I scene 3 (extract) 'Ciel! qual destin terribile' (Falliero, Bianca) 'Deh! va', ti scongiuro' (Bianca, Falliero) Jennifer Larmore (Falliero), Majella Cullagh (Bianca) / London Philharmonic Orchestra / David Parry (cond.) Opera rara ORC20 CD2 T4-5 Bianca e Falliero, Act II scene 2 'Ah! qual notte di squallore' (coro) 'Qual funebre apparato' (Falliero) 'Alma, ben mio, si pura' (Falliero) 'Vieni, signor: in altra stanza' (Pisani, Falliero) 'Tu non sai qual colpo atroce' (Falliero, coro) 'Lasso! cessar di vivere' (Falliero) 'Ma piu che onore e vita' (Falliero, coro) 'No, non e reo' (Pisani, Contareno, Capellio, Falliero) 'Donna, chi sei? -- Bianca son io' (Bianca, Contareno, Capellio) 'Cielo, il mio labbro inspira' (Bianca, Falliero, Contareno, Capellio) 'Parla dunque: qual mistero' (Contareno, Bianca, Capellio, Falliero) 'Grazie, o cielo!' (Bianca, Falliero, Contareno, Capellio, coro) Jennifer Larmore (Falliero), Ryland Davies (Pisani), Barry Banks (Contareno), Capellio (Ildebrando D'Arcangelo), Majella Cullagh (Bianca) / Geoffrey Mitchell Choir / London Philharmonic Orchestra / David Parry (cond.) Opera rara ORC20 CD3 T11-22