COMPOSERS: Rossini
LABELS: Sony
WORKS: Armida
PERFORMER: Renée Fleming (Armida) & Gregory Kunde (Rinaldo) Bologna Teatro Comunale Orchestra & Chorus/Daniele Gatti
CATALOGUE NO: 88697579072,
Sorceress Armida and her Rinaldo crop up again in one of Rossini’s wackier experiments. Renée Fleming has recently divided opinion in a staging of this armida at the Met; but I doubt if her fiercest detractors would fault her stylish grace at the 1993 Pesaro Rossini Festival. All three duets with Gregory Kunde’s Rinaldo shimmer; but of course this is also an opera of five tenors, kicking off with the resplendent Goffredo of Donald Kaasch. Daniele Gatti conducts with flair; only the chorus falls short. David Nice