Rossini - La Pietra del Paragone

Not only do we have great music by a most inventive composer, Rossini- it is produced by a group of a wonderfully inventive production team, dripping with inventive talent. No expense was spared in this production. The first surprise when you receive it, is that it is not in a flimsy jewel case, or fragile box-but is packaged in a hard cover book! Inside are highest quality photos, and thorough historical notes that place this happy work in context. I have never seen a more thorough treatment of an opera in my life. Words are not enough to express all that you will find here. I have to say that the two principle love objects are beyond superb. I have no doubt at all that you will see and hear more from each of them. Sonia Prina-who portrays the only woman with a sincere heart in this romantic romp- is adorable! This DVD is worth the price alone for her performance. ( Incidentally, this production has a price that is very reasonable compared to the ridiculously overpriced boxed audio only sets from Opera Rara. Take a hint, Opera Rara- those sets are way overpriced, when you realize you can get a DVD performance and a stunning book with the visual show, such as this one for half the cost of an Opera Rara audio only edition. ) You will fall in love with Sonia Prina too. There is a lot of silliness and mawkish ( overly sentimental ) mugging; but this is why it is so endearing. When we see an old Charlie Chaplin film, we encounter a lot of the same overacting absurdity. This sort of convoluted absurdity had the same purpose early in the 1800's as Chaplin's works had-which was mainly to distract from the more grave socio/economic/wartime darknesses on the horizon then as now. Even if you find yourself profoundly annoyed by the overacting, it has already acheived its purpose-to distract you from world events that are far more disturbing.Hence, the Chaplinesque clowning around stupidity.I must insert here how keen was Rossini's perception of human behavior at this early age ( in his 20's ? ) of composing. We see here his life long irreverence for hoighty toighty sycophancy which he maintains throughout his career. We see it again in the Cinderella story, and in Puccini's "Gianni Schichi"...flattering self seeking suck ups pretending sorrow at a funeral of a rich relative hoping to grab a big chunk of that money. This opera and Il Viaggio a Reims, and Gianni Schichi, all point to the ugliest aspect of human nature in the entire world - sucking up to someone rich and powrful, and abandoning them to poverty the instant you discover they have lost their fortune! This is still with us today. One only has to turn on any TV show to see it in spades. Think of "The Bachelor" when they chose a working stiff and presented him as fabulously wealthy, and brought in the bimbos to cat fight over him...only to discover that they had all made gigantic fools of themselves before millions of viewers. But does this stop bimbos from stabbing each other in the back for the rich guy? Absolutely not. The really deplorable thing?..you will find this behavior in just about any large church ...people thinking they are taking on an aura of 'goodness', while all they are thinking about is being in the 'inner circle' concerned about who they are seen with, what they are wearing and driving and where they live-thinking they are 'advancing their token to boardwalk' by joining the 'richest church in town'! Any TV show...any church...there you will find this behavior so comically displayed here in this opera...only it isn't a damn bit funny, is it? The fabulous printed matter helps us understand all this much better. My sincere hope is that opera productions in future will take a cue from this production here. It is revolutionary. The entire genre can only benefit from such a deluge of talent like this. This edition will increase in value over time. You may find numerous things you would do differently. In my case, I would not show so much 'how this thing is done technically', with stage hands clearly standing or moving about with props. And also when the singers are distant from the microphones, it is way too obvious...they sound distant and hollow. All this is way too distracting from an otherwise good performance by the players. I also like the tenor role of Giocondo, played by Jose Zapata ( Joe Shoe ). He has a beautiful voice, which gets quite lost among all the zany antics, and distracting stage hand stuff. He deserves a serious role, and so does Sonia Prina, with the enormously pleasant contralto voice she has, along with her stupendous acting abilities. You might hate this at first...but you will watch it again, I'm sure. I did, in spite of my objections.addition months later...I like it even more.Unfortunately, my copy freezes.. i will be lookign for another copy to replace this one. this opera is a keeper. let it be known we demand more sonia Prina. although her specialty is music of the Baroque era...and I am a hopeless romantic...perhaps I'll start collecting baroque operas if Sonia is in them.

I admit up front that I took a chance on this recording of La Pietra del Paragone as nobody had yet bothered to create a review. I had seen a small film clip of the work on the Opus Arte website which intrigued me into wanting to see more and I already owned the other `high-tech' version of this work from the Chatelet Theatre, so I had some idea of what to expect.Well, I was disappointed. This is obviously one of Rossini's less well-known works and certainly not one of his best. The work being reviewed appears to take place in the large rear garden of a very modern two-story villa during the timeframe of one afternoon. An odd assortment of colorfully dressed men and women seem to move from one table to another with drinks in hand while others attempt to play tennis or cavort in and around a small swimming pool. That seems to be the full content of the opera from beginning to end. There is not enough to interest oneself in any of the singers; most of who sing reasonably well. It is unfortunate that none of them appears very interesting as characters. Although much money appears to have been spent on the stageset, no changes occur throughout the work and the lighting, meant to represent a warm and sunny afternoon, is constant. Perhaps, if the time frame had extended into the early evening and for the lighting within the villa on stage to create a different ambience I might have become more interested in this work.By contrast, the other version mentioned, has the terrific presence of the wonderfully expressive actress and singer Sonia Prima in a leading roll and she certainly makes the most of it. On top of this, having split screens and trick video effects with stagehands manipulating scenery in full view of the audience, but covered from head to toe in blue so that they do not appear against the blue screen, with the combined results appearing on screens suspended above the performers, prevent any possibility of boredom setting in. One is constantly waiting to see what new surprise will appear on stage next, and one is not disappointed.

What is it that make you keep coming back for a fix of 'Pietra' every so often? Premiered when Rossini was just 20 so obviously written before that age, it has a vivacity and youthfulness that is just captivating. Probably I think his most 'Mozartian' opera. I have this and the other DVD from the Teatro Real in Madrid - but this performance is so engaging that I always end up watching this one when I get that 'Pietra' itch. That's not to downplay the Madrid production - it's excellent with a smart 1950's dolce vita style adaptation and with Raul Giminez as Gioconda in excellent form (the bonus interviews are worth watching). But this Ensemble Matheus production is quite unique. I think what makes a big difference is the fact that the singer/actors are often in close-up shots so facial expressions interplay with the music/story and add to the charm of the piece. The Clarice in this production (Sonia Prina) is just a real darling - competent, mischievous and very convincing. I love the Buster Keaton waiter character who wanders in and out! but there are some slowish parts (hey he's only 20 odd!) with Macrobio the journalist (an accurate prescient of the fickleness of modern day tabloid press) and Pacuvio the noisome amateur poet - but that aside its a piece that always leaves you in a good mood. The conduct and joy of the orchestra couldn't be more energetic and played on mostly period instruments it must be a fairly accurate rendition what the 1812 audience would have heard.

イタリア語の上にパリ公演の為解説はフランス語、字幕は英語と、歌の内容を細かく知るには難易度が高いです。が、この演出家の頭の中はどうなっていたんだろうと思うくらい、演出が斬新!　カメラに向かって歌う出演者達を客が見るという二重構造。巨大ネズミや巨大金魚の登場!狂言回しのおじさんの演技が最高です。黒子(青子)の人が皆スタイルの良い女性なのもご愛嬌。話も小難しくはなく見ていれば大体理解できると思います。ただ、長いから…☆四つにしました。

オペラ歌手希望の日本人が、イタリア人の中でたった一人で頑張っている姿が、頼もしい。言葉が分からなくても、何度か見ているうちに　楽しめた。日本語対応が出来たようなので、また買ってみることにした。

model scenery with superimposed artistes which i found off putting. cast are fine . I much prefer the Teatro Real production

This 2007 presentation of Rossini's early operatic success, La Pietra del Paragone', is a total success in my opinion but strictly on its own unique terms. Although Rossini was only 25 at the time of writing it, you would never know from its highly skilful vocal and instrumental writing or its dramatic setting. it was very popular with contemporary audiences.The current conductor, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, feels passionately that this is no less than a masterpiece and establishes his point of view in a detailed interview under the bonus section of this presentation. There is also a detailed interview with the creator of the video techniques used. It is these that will make or break this recording for most purchasers. Another unusual feature of this presentation is the 116 page book, (half in French and half in English), which goes into numerous aspects of the music, the musicians, the production and the technicians in considerable detail.As regards the conductor and the orchestra, what we have here is an impassioned delivery of the music on original instruments. This allows for correct balancing and textures as envisioned by Rossini and every tiny detail of phrasing and dynamics is scrupulously observed, sometimes at breakneck speeds, all of which are executed with jaw-dropping brilliance by the singers as well as the instrumentalists.All the singers are truly outstanding. It is a young team who were particularly flexible in terms of the production requirements which demanded tremendous capability in terms of facial expression. Sonia Prina as Clarisa has a highly developed sense of humour, which coupled with a dazzling vocal technique, makes her beyond compare in my opinion. Not far behind are Joan Martin-Royo as Macrobio and Laura Giordano as Fulva to rather unfairly single out just a couple more. Suffice it to say that the whole cast is on an equally exalted plane.The production has been conceived as a combination of small models of houses and artefacts with a range of close video cameras working in conjunction with another set of video cameras focusing on the singers. This enables trick photography to occur by superimposing one over another. So, by way of example, the count is seen sitting on a banana seat in his garden achieved simply by blending the count's video with that of the banana etc. The blended images are displayed on banks of large video screens behind and above the singers which enables the audience to see how it is done at the same time as seeing the result. This allows much greater facial acting than would otherwise be possible as well as countless other effects. The none-singing role of the waiter is a constantly diverting and amusing side-play.Does this work? The audience seemed to enjoy it and the production was a great success in that respect. I personally liked it very much and have enjoyed it on repeated viewings. My wife is not so keen and finds it distracting. I would not wish this to become the preferred way of watching many operas either. But on this occasion I find it adds greatly to my enjoyment.The sound is presented in stereo only but this may be more appropriate to the inevitably reduced live sound stage. Either way I found my ears rapidly adjusted. The visual side is essentially trickery so normal comments about imaging and camera work simply do not apply.For me, on this one occasion, I would rate it as a 5 star experience. The Gramophone Magazine also favoured it upon release and I would not count that particular magazine as innately revolutionary or avant garde in general terms. My wife would not be so kind. This particular recording is therefore bound to be a very much more a matter of personal taste than usual and therefore beyond the scope of a review such as this. On this occasion the above must simply be seen as an attempt to give the flavour of a very unusual presentation which is likely to appeal, or not to appeal, equally strongly to potential purchasers.

This came with good magazine reviews. Then along came another on the Naive label with Spinosi conducting. I bought both and initially enjoyed them differently. I now much prefer the Spinosi's version. My wife initially preferred this one though as she found the other too gimmicky. We now only have one version - guess which!Personally I think there is room in the catalogue for both as both are well-sung and well recorded. Both are updated to modern times and this requires a complete suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer. But surely that was always the case as the story is so, well, unbelievable.A major difference between the two is that the rival version on Naive makes use of large display screens to project enlarged images of the singers superimposed within various settings and with various artefacts. This is supposed to be witty - and so it is - the first time. I, however, have continued to enjoy it increasingly as I find the singers more dramatically successful and I now find the characterisation of the version being considered here inherently duller by comparison. The orchestral playing on original instruments is also far sharper and incisive as conducted by Spinosi.So there you have it. For me the choice is clear - get the other version with Spinosi conducting with total flair.