Gioachino Rossini's Messa di Gloria of 1821, right in the middle of the years when he ruled the operatic scene, has been less often recorded than the free-spirited and personal Stabat Mater of his old age. Various reasons could be advanced for this comparative neglect. Stacked up against Rossini's operas of the period it's something of a mixed bag. Some of it is intensely operatic, but it also looks back to the past with its giant contrapuntal "Cum sancto spiritu" (the mass consists of a Kyrie and Gloria). From the point of view of the cult of individual Romantic genius, a major problem is that Rossini may have had a collaborator on the work, one Pietro Raimondi, who honed some of the more polyphonic passages.

Rossini liked to write operas about women (specifically mezzo-sopranos) who were smarter than the men around them, such as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville" and Angelina in "La Cenerentola." This charming, melodious bit of operatic fluff, composed before either of those two better-known operas, is dedicated to the proposition that an Italian woman is a match for any man or group of men. The thesis is tested in an extreme situation; Isabella (Larmore) is shipwrecked on the coast of a place where shipwrecked Europeans were routinely enslaved and, if they were women, consigned to a harem.

This DVD documents a production of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, which over the last 25 years has developed into one of the most important institutions of Italian musical life. This wonderful 1999 "Tancredi" production was on the repertoire there before traveling to Rome and finally to Florence, where it was recorded in 2005. Her concentrated classical pictures are characterized by an almost overwhelming architectural look with columns, reliefs and an altar. Director Pier Luigi Pizzi plays with a black and white contrast, which symbolizes the parties of Syracuse and which he added the color red - a symbol of the retreating hero.

Based on Voltaire's tragedy, this is a story of innocence wronged, set against a backdrop of Turks at war with Syracuse. Amenaide, the daughter of Argirio, leader of the senate, is in love with the exiled knight Tancredi. Argirio offers Amenaide's hand in marriage to Orbazzano, the leader of a rival faction, as a token of reconciliation. Amenaide resists this, and sends a letter to Tancredi, who has returned to Syracuse and is in hiding. The letter is intercepted, and it is mistaken as an invitation to the Turk Solamir to enter Syracuse. All are appalled, even the disguised Tancredi. Amenaide is sentenced to death for treachery, but Argirio allows a champion to fight for her vindication. Although still believing her guilty, Tancredi (still disguised) does so. He bests Orbazzano, saves Amenaide, and sadly prepares to leave Syracuse for good.

Giovanni Mayr is known today primarily as the teacher of Donizetti, but in the very late 1700s and first two decades of the 1800s, this German-born, Italian-by-adoption composer was all the operatic rage, combining the fiorature and niceties of Italian vocal writing with a German penchant for orchestration (Medea’s opening aria has a violin obbligato of the type that you simply do not find with the Italians, for instance). Medea in Corinto is considered Mayr’s masterpiece; in fact, it’s a long score, not quite as poweful as Cherubini’s, but with plenty of flavor of its own.

Cecilia Bartoli both thrills the senses and touches the heart in Rossini's sparkling comedy, her feisty Cinderella combining rebelliousness with pathos, vocal beauty with stunning virtuosity. She and a star cast of Italian principals captivate the Houston audience in this exuberant Bologna production, recorded live in November 1995.

From the opening notes of the overture to the final curtain, Emilio Sagi’s classic, triumphant production fully brings to life all the elegant wit and theatricality of Mozart’s comic masterpiece.
Leading baritone Ludovic Tézier shines as the lustful Count Almaviva who attempts to obtain the favours of Figaro’s bride-to-be, Susanna (Isabel Rey), while Luca Pisaroni gives a feisty performance as Figaro. Conductor Jesús López Cobos masterfully captures the enchanting score. A witty yet profound tale of love, betrayal, and forgiveness.