Il Barbiere di Siviglia – Overture (Sinfonia) – Carlo Maria Giulini

Il Barbiere di Siviglia / The Barber of Seville (Rossini)
Sinfonia / Ouverture
Conductor – Carlo Maria Giulini
Philharmonia Orchestra

Two brash chords herald the beginning, followed by a scampering yet hesitating figure which figures through most of the introduction; a contrasting central section (dolce) is a sunny lyrical tune which could easily have been an aria. The intro seemingly drifts to somnolence (morendo) until the opening chords jolt the music back to reality. A Neapolitan dance (allegro vivace) takes center stage and is followed by a more jovial theme (dolce) tossed between woodwinds and horns. Then begins one of Rossini’s best crescendi………………..

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Handsome and impeccably tailored, Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005) was once called “Don Carlo of the Symphony”.

Through most of his career, Giulini resisted assuming full-time responsibility for an orchestra. Needing frequent periods for reflection and study, he preferred guest-conducting associations. He had a 23-year relationship with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, starting in 1955 (his first American engagement). From 1969 to 1978 he was its principal guest conductor. He was also the principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra for three years during the 1970’s. In 1978 he became the principal conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 1950 in Bergamo he made his debut in staged opera, conducting Verdi’s Traviata, which he conducted again the next year with Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi alternating the role of Violetta… In Bergamo, Giulini came to the attention of Toscanini and, more significantly, Victor de Sabata, who immediately took Giulini to La Scala, where in 1953 he succeeded de Sabata as principal conductor.

By the late 1960’s, Giulini had grown disheartened with working in opera houses, where he said he had to contend with insufficient rehearsal time, musically obtuse directors and too many singers interested more in jet-setting international careers than in substantive work. He restricted his appearances, and even the Metropolitan Opera was never able to engage him.

Still, some of his complete opera recordings are landmarks of the discography, including a 1959 account of Mozart’s “Nozze di Figaro” with Giuseppe Taddei in the title role, Anna Moffo as Susanna, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as the Countess, and the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus.

Giulini made careful choices in repertory, putting off conducting the symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven until the 1960’s. As Giulini matured, his tempos, always on the spacious side, grew even more so. Some critics sometimes found his work vague, sluggish, even prissy. Reviewing a Los Angeles Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall in 1979, the Times critic Harold C. Schonberg wrote that during much of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony “this listener had the feeling that Mr. Giulini was equating slowness with profundity”.

He died in Brescia, Italy at age 91… this conductor-character Fellini couldn’t have thought up – a big hat, sunglasses, the scarf, driving along in his Mercedes…

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Il Barbiere di Siviglia – Overture (Sinfonia) – Claudio Abbado (1972): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80g9E1JZoZg
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA – La Scala 1929 (Complete Opera Rossini): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uRDep7g6Ro
Fernando de Lucia – Ecco ridente in cielo (1908): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwEt4qyaunI
Tito Schipa – Se il mio nome (1949): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89K_kMAS3JE
Regina Pacini – Una voce poco fa (1906): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIIoo0Zvfvo

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