William Tell was an opera I only heard the whole of courtesy of the outstanding recording with Milnes, Pavarotti, Freni and Ghiaurov conducted by Chailly only recently having heard just the highlights. Although Il Barbiere Di Siviglia is the opera of Rossini I am most familiar with, William Tell comes close to topping that as Rossini's masterpiece(being the longest I think of his operas and the most difficult to perform).

This production was disappointing but I wouldn't say it was utter rubbish. I do agree though about the production values and staging, which even for La Scala were not up to scratch. The sets are rather obvious and the costumes are dull, and the video directing has inconsistencies, sometimes it is good sometimes it is pretty annoying. The staging is sadly somewhat ponderous and not always in sync with the music and drama. The ballet choreography also looks messy.

However, there is nothing to fault in other areas. The music is brilliant, I can't get enough of the overture and Tell's Sois Immobile, and I like the story and characters very much. Riccardo Muti's conducting is top-notch as it is characteristically. The performances are faultless, Chris Merritt is brilliant as Arnold, Cheryl Studer is a beautifully sung Mathilde, there is a very effective and somewhat menacing Gessler in the name of Luigi Roni, Ernesto Gavazzi is superb as Rodolfo and Giorgio Zancanaro is a fine William Tell. Also Amelia Felle is an attractive Jemmy despite her costume and Giorgio Surjan is good as Gualtiero.

Overall, beautifully performed but disappointing. 7/10 Bethany Cox

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Guglielmo Tell

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