Mosè in Egitto

The series of Rossini's works from the longstanding Pesaro Rossini Festival—including La Cambiale di Matrimonio (VL-7/08), Il Turco in Italia (VL-5/09), and La Gazza Ladra (VL-7/12)—ably demonstrates the breadth and invention of his oeuvre. This 2011 mounting of his powerful 1818 opera about Moses' freeing of the Jews from their bondage in Egypt finds Rossini at his most dramatic. Like Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, the story portrays the biblical plagues that Moses inflicted on the Egyptians and the vacillation of Pharaoh in allowing the Jews to leave—likewise closing with the dramatic parting of the Red Sea. Also like the Hollywood epic, Mosè in Egitto includes a fictional romantic subplot, an affair with a Jewish woman that leads Pharaoh's son to try to prevent the Jews' departure. Rossini's score is remarkably modern for its time, sometimes suggesting Verdi in its hushed power (particularly in the third-act choral prayer added to the 1819 revival and included here), and it is performed with fervor by the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna under Roberto Abbado. The vocalism is also strong, with Riccardo Zanellato (Moses), Alex Esposito (Faraone), Olga Senderskaya (Faraone's wife, Amaltea), Dmitry Korchak (his son, Osiride), Sonia Ganassi (Osiride's lover, Elcia), and Yijie Shi (Aronne) all contributing good work. Graham Vick's staging uses images of modern strife (soldiers with assault rifles, rebels wearing suicide bombs)—an increasingly tired visual cliché—but the musical side shines. Presented in DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and LCPM stereo on Blu-ray, extras include a “making-of” featurette and a cast gallery. Recommended. (F. Swietek)