Rossini: Il Turco in Italia (CD review)

Cecilia Bartoli, Michele Pertusi, Alessandro Corbelli, Laura Polverelli; Riccardo Chailly, Orchestra and choir of the Teatro alla Scala di Milano. Decca 289 458 924-2 (2-disc set).

Il Turco in Italia (1814) is one of Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's (1792-1868) early comic operas, the kind that non-opera connoisseurs like myself find difficult to differentiate from others of its kind. Even though there are no big, really memorable tunes to program on my CD player for later listening, it all goes down agreeably in the moment.

Yes, this mid-Nineties production is pleasantly entertaining at the time, beautifully sung by the soloists and choir, well accompanied by Maestro Chailly and his La Scala Orchestra, and reasonably well recorded. It's just that I am not sure I would ever return to it again willingly for a complete run-through. At least I haven't in the twenty-odd years since I first got the set. 

Riccardo Chailly

The opera's plot involves a unique idea for its time, and one that has been used since. A poet in search of material for a comedy he is writing decides to use the real life around him as his reference. Observing a group of gypsies, he notes an unhappy marriage, a wandering wife, a hapless husband, and a Turkish prince. Needless to say, when the real-life situations don't develop dramatically enough for his liking, the poet is not above "arranging" the people's lives, finally arriving at a suitably happy ending for everyone involved. 

Decca's 1996 sound is typical of their modern opera recordings. It is big and clear, with voices a trifle bright for extra clarity, a point I noted most especially in the chorus and ensemble numbers. Also, while there is certainly a great deal of stage width, there isn't much sense of motion around the stage; indeed, there is little sense of stage presence, movement, or depth at all; not like the old Culshaw days. It is more or less a fixed reading. And, as usual, the orchestra appears on the same plane as the singers rather than in a more realistic, forward position as we might hear live.

In all, opera lovers will probably want the set. Others may want to audition it first.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below: