Rossini: La Cenerentola

Elina Garanča
Lawrence Brownlee
Simone Alberghini
Alessandro Corbelli
John Relyea

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Maurizio Benini

Deutsche Grammophon DVD 00044007345771

This is a delightful Cenerentola; an inspired, lavish production by Cesare Levi, with brilliant sets and costumes of Maurizio Balo and the orchestra in the more than safe hands of Benini.

Cinderella and her Valet/Prince shine with mutual affection. Their mismatched statures of are managed cleverly for the finale by putting him up on top of the wedding cake; other aspects are of no account, Garanča and Brownlee are wonderfully matched vocally and both completely on top of the Rossini coloratura; "Despite being towered over (even physically) by Garanča, Brownlee portrayed a memorable Prince Charming". [Musical Criticism]

In the midst of the slapstick, the savagery of the underlying theme (often so in the best comic operas, c.f. Falstaff) is not minimised. A great opera which only gains from repeated encounters, one that can take a wide range of interpretations.

My links include one of the live performance and another of the premiere transmission to cinemas internationally; not always a complete success technically.

The DVD cannot be faulted; it is all terrific fun and a worthy addition to the filmed choices for La Cenerentola.

Peter Grahame Woolf