L'Italiana in Algeri : Zedda / Virtuosi Brunensis, Pizzolato, Regazzo, Brownlee, etc (2008 Stereo)(2CD)

GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792-1868) : L’Italiana in Algeri
Dramma giocoso in two acts by Angelo Anelli
Critical edition by Fondazione Rossini, edited by Azio Corghi

Mustafa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lorenzo Regazzo, Bass
Elvira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Gonzalez, Soprano
Zulma . . . . . . . . . Elsa Giannoulidou, Mezzo-soprano
Haly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Giulio Mastrototaro, Bass
Lindoro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lawrence Brownlee, Tenor
Isabella . . . . . . . . . . . Marianna Pizzolato, Contralto
Taddeo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bruno De Simone, Bass
Gianni Fabbrini, Harpsichord continuo
Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir, Cluj (Chorus master: Cornel Groza)
Virtuosi Brunensis (Artistic Director: Karel Mitas)
Alberto Zedda, conductor

Recorded live at the Kursaal, Bad Wildbad, Germany, 2nd, 3rd and 5th July 2008
for the Jubilee performance of the XXth ROSSINI IN WILDBAD Festival (Artistic director: Jochen Schonleber)

Using the critical edition by Azio Corghi, this recording of L’Italiana in Algeri was made at a jubilee performance of the XXth Rossini in Wildbad Festival in 2008. For his tenth opera, the already celebrated 21-year-old Rossini wanted ‘a humorous libretto full of spectacle’. This spirited opera, completed in barely a month, scored an immediate hit and its manic atmosphere of ‘organized, total lunacy’, as Stendhal put it, has ensured its enduring popularity. ( NAXOS )