Riccardo Chailly, Wiener Philharmoniker, Ann Murray, Francisco Araiza - Gioacchino Rossini: La Cenerentola (2001)

La Cenerentola is one of the few operas to have an important subtitle, "The Triumph of Virtue". This Salzburg production makes a point of its being a moral tale rather than a mere fairy tale like the version reflexively sung by Angelina in her "Cavatina": the defeat and forgiveness of the stepsisters and their greedy father is a settling of moral accounts. The production is also tremendous fun–partly because of gimmicks like the mechanical coach and horses that arrives on stage in the high wind of the Act Two storm–but mostly because of the endlessly energetic pulse of Riccardo Chailly's conducting of the Vienna Philharmonic. Anne Murray is an ideal Angelina, equally good at the heroine's witty intelligence and at the complexity of her emotional situation–loyal to the family that mistreats her. Francisco Araiza is an attractive Don Ramirez; the byplay between him and his servant Dandini (Gino Quilico)–in the duet "Zitto, zitto. Piano, piano", for example is for once genuinely amusing. Parts like Don Magnifico were the late Walter Berry's stock-in-trade–his occasionally menacing portrayal is far richer and more interesting than a mere buffoon.

Performer:
Angelina - Ann Murray
Don Ramiro - Francisco Araiza
Dandini - Gino Quilico
Don Magnifico - Walter Berry
Clorinda - Angela Denning
Tisbe - Daphne Evangelatos
Alidoro - Wolfgang Schöne
Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductor - Riccardo Chailly