Adelaide di Borgogna

Rossini's rarely mounted 1817 opera seria is generally thought to be one of his weakest scores, but this 2011 revival from the Rossini Festival in Pesaro shows that while uneven, it does feature some splendid music. Drawn from 10th-century German history, the libretto finds Emperor Otto the Great (Otttone) marching into Italy to rescue the titular heiress from both Berengario (the Lombard warlord who killed her father) and his son, Adelberto. In the process, Ottone falls in love with Adelaide and marries her, saving her from Adelberto's unwanted advances (the opera closes with the happy couple singing ecstatically while their enemies writhe in chains). Typical for the genre, this is a largely static work, featuring a succession of arias sung by mostly stationary soloists, with occasional choral interruptions. But the numbers boast considerable variety and are performed in stellar fashion, with Daniela Barcellona (in the trousers role of Ottone), Jessica Pratt (Adelaide), and Bogdan Mihai (Adelberto) the standouts, tossing off the coloratura with aplomb and investing the rather stock characters with a semblance of humanity under Pier' Alli's astute direction. The sets here are simple but effective, the costumes are elegant, and Dmitri Jurowski leads the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with finesse. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and PCM stereo on Blu-ray, extras include a “making-of” featurette. Recommended. (F. Swietek)