CCMusic.com

Aureliano in Palmira celebrated it's fi rst première on 26 December 1813 at the Scala In Milan. Soon afterwards the work was played in different theatres all over Europe. Nevertheless Rossini's piece fell into oblivion more and more compared to the great competitors like "Tancredi" or the "Barber of Seville" for which Rossini recycled musical parts of "Aureliano".But since a few years there are ambitions to play this work about love, war, jealousy, loyalty and magnanimity more frequently. The direction in Pesaro was in the proven hands of the famous fi lm director Mario Martone. Conductor Will Crutchfi eld contributes to the successful performance of the newly edited "Aureliano in Palmira" and masterfully directs the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini. Michael Spyres as Aureliano "showed immediately that his tenor voice with marvelous top notes has not only fl exibility and agility, but also enough body, to provide the Roman emperor great vocal authority." Opernglas