Rossini Il Turco in Italia

Product Description Marco Vinco, Alessandra Marianelli, Andrea Concetti, Filippo Adami, Bruno Taddia, Elena Belfiore, and Daniele Zanfardino star in this 2007 production of the Rossini opera with Antonello Allemandi conducting the Orchestra Haydn Di Bolzano E Trento and Prag Review Il turco in Italia has too long been regarded as a cheap knockoff composed by Rossini to capitalize on the great success of L'italiana in Algeri. In fact, the later opera has the superior libretto, and is markedly bolder in its technical demands and use of exotic colors. It isn't as often performed, but when it is done with the energy and flair shown in this production of Pesaro's Rossini Opera Festival, it works very well. The production is traditional in many respects, but inventive in finding means to delineate character. Stage Director Guido de Monticelli, long known for his work with actors, here gets some very fine performances from Marianelli, Taddia, and Concetti in particular. There's a great deal of byplay among them, and even Vinco--who seems less comfortable with physical expressiveness--does a fine turn in his act II duet with Concetti, "A proposito, amico." The chorus of sea-faring Gypsies moves about and engages in seemingly varied, specific, and always convincing business when on stage. Very occasionally, the comic business spills over into excess, as whenever the chorus of Fiorilla's suitors appears. Each is given something to do--but should we really be watching a swimmer, another pantomiming shaking water off his newspaper, a third lighting a cigar with great enjoyment, while the soprano is singing her first aria? I suspect this is a case of de Montecelli not trusting the aria's content or Marianelli's art to sustain the piece. He really should have given her more credit. She makes a wonderfully convincing hellcat in the skin of a Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood sex kitten. Her singing is its match: secure and effortless, with a fine mezzo-ish lower range soaring free and clear as it goes higher. Her coloratura, too, is immaculate, and well matched by that of Vinco. He gives us a rare opportunity to hear a fine coloratura bass in something other than Baroque opera; and hear him we do, to great advantage, as Vinco's dark timbre and easy production make certain he's properly heard, without stentorian effort, in every one of his concerted numbers. Concetti, a gra