Rossini: Guillaume Tell (William Tell in French) - Antonio Pappano (3 CDS)

Rossini: Guillaume Tell

Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Antonio Pappano
Gerald Finley (Guillaume Tell), John Osborn (Arnaud), Malin Byström (Mathilde), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Hedwige), Matthew Rose (Walter Furst), Frédéric Caton (Melchtal), Elena Xanthoudakis (Jemmy), Carlo Cigni (Gesler), Carlo Bosi (Rodolphe), Celso Albelo (Ruodi), Dawid Kimberg (Leuthold), Davide Malvestio (Un Chasseur)

Guillaume Tell, premiered in Paris in 1829, was Rossini’s grandest opera and also his last, although the composer lived for almost 40 more years. Based on Friedrich Schiller’s epic play Wilhelm Tell, it tells of heroic resistance to Austrian oppression in 14th-century Switzerland. “The piece is an immense architectural challenge for a conductor,” says Antonio Pappano, “but I was just swept off my feet by its sheer energy and daring.”