Rossini
“Cenerentola has been lucky on record, but Chailly’s version sparkles even more brightly than any predecessor. It has the effervescence of a live performance, with none of the disadvantages of a live recording. Cecilia Bartoli, one of the most vibrantly exciting singers of the younger generation, makes an inspired Cenerentola. Her tone-colours are not just more sensuous than those of her rivals; her imagination and feeling for detail add enormously to her vivid characterization, culminating in a stunning account of the final rondo, “non più mesta”. The rest of the cast has been just as carefully chosen. Few Rossini opera-sets have such fizz as this, and the recording is one of Decca’s most vivid.” The Penguin Guide