Gramophone Magazine
December 2019
DVD of the Month

Florian Sempey (Figaro), Catherine Trottmann (Rosina), Michele Angelini (Almaviva), Péter Kálmán (Bartolo), Robert Gleadow (Basilio), Annuziata Vestri (Berta)

Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, Jérémie Rhorer, Laurent Pelly

Rossini’s comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville was based on Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’s French play Le Barbier de Séville and is the ultimate opera buffa. The score is a compendium of the composer’s wittiest and most brilliant writing, and includes the famous entrance aria Largo al factotum and a raft of superbly dynamic ensembles. This vibrant and youthful production features Florian Sempey, one of the world’s best Figaros, the ‘Rossini tenor’ Michele Angelini, vivacious and critically admired Catherine Trottmann, and the award-winning team of acclaimed director Laurent Pelly and conductor Jérémie Rhorer who directs his spirited period ensemble Le Cercle de l’Harmonie.

"Given that Pelly works with players of quality, while ensuring that the production’s every detail is of a piece with itself, it’s not surprising that this is a wonderfully well-acted Il barbiere…The final salute, however, must go to Jérémie Rhorer and the period instrumentalists of his Le Cercle de l’Harmonie…This, by any measure, is premier cru conducting… My, what skills are on display in every department of this astonishing production!" - Gramophone Magazine, December 2019.