Rossini: Guillaume Tell

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Rossini: Guillaume Tell

Guillaume Tell Recorded live at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, August 2013

The hero of this admirably complete August 2013 Guillaume Tell from Pesaro is homegrown maestro Michele Mariotti. The inimitable overture is (mercifully) unstaged and terrifically played, with splendid cello and flute solos: the fine standard never flags. Rossini’s extraordinary 1829 score audibly presages Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Glinka, Verdi and Wagner, among many others. Graham Vick’s direction privileges class conflict, with a clenched fist on the red-and-white forecurtain. The Edwardian costumes place Austrians in white evening garb; the black-clad Swiss polish the floor while the rulers savor a filming (much of that to follow) — the fisherman Ruodi, in a boat with a blonde and fake scenery, with Tell and his family providing tech support. Vick deploys geographical and historical kitsch liberally but not (always) pointlessly. Ron Howell’s pretentious, mannered choreography, however, beggars belief.

Release Date

2013-01-01

Year

2013

Duration

4h 7m

Status

Released

Score

7.00

Genres

#opera

Cast

Nicola Alaimo

Nicola Alaimo

Guillaume Tell

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Simone Alberghini

Melcthal

Juan Diego Flórez

Juan Diego Flórez

Arnold

Amanda Forsythe

Amanda Forsythe

Jemmy

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Simón Orfila

Walter Furst

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Marina Rebeka

Mathilde

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Luca Tittoto

Gessler