Rossini: Guillaume Tell

Rossini: Guillaume Tell

7

The hero of this admirably complete August 2013 Guillaume Tell from Pesaro is homegrown maestro Michele Mariotti. The inimitable overture is (mercifully) unstaged and terrifically played, with splendid cello and flute solos: the fine standard never flags. Rossini’s extraordinary 1829 score audibly presages Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Glinka, Verdi and Wagner, among many others. Graham Vick’s direction privileges class conflict, with a clenched fist on the red-and-white forecurtain. The Edwardian costumes place Austrians in white evening garb; the black-clad Swiss polish the floor while the rulers savor a filming (much of that to follow) — the fisherman Ruodi, in a boat with a blonde and fake scenery, with Tell and his family providing tech support. Vick deploys geographical and historical kitsch liberally but not (always) pointlessly. Ron Howell’s pretentious, mannered choreography, however, beggars belief.

Similar movies

    Puccini: TurandotDer FreischützMadama ButterflyGiuseppe Verdi: AidaBilly BuddRusalkaSalomeMédéeLohengrinSiegfried (Longborough Opera Festival 2022)Giacomo Puccini: TurandotPhantomDonizetti: Lucia di LammermoorRichard Wagner: TannhäuserTristan und IsoldeLa Finta GiardinieraJenůfaFigaros HochzeitPoulenc's  The Human Voice / Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle