Categories
Recording

Songs of Orpheus

Karim Sulayman (ten)
Apollo’s Fire, Jeannette Sorrell (dir)
63:21
Avie AV 2383

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his debut CD from the Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman  is centred around the solos for Orfeo in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, a role he has been taking in a US tour of semi-staged performances with Apollo’s Fire under Jeanette Sorrell during the month in which this review was written (April 2018). They include ‘Rosa del ciel’ and ‘Tu se’morta’ (both from act 1), ‘Vi ricorda’ from act 2, and ‘Qual honor’, the recitative from act 4 that leads into the dramatic climax of the opera, the fatal moment at which Orfeo turns to look at Euridice. The ostensibly surprising omission of ‘Possente spirto’ can probably be accounted for by the fact that Sorrell uses only a string ensemble for the recording and that virtuoso song of course demands other obbligato instruments.

It would have been interesting to see the live performance, since on the evidence of the present CD Sulayman seems likely to have been a highly personable Orfeo. His tenor is a pleasing lyric instrument, perhaps a little grainy in the lower baritonal part of the voice, but capable of a range of colour. His greatest asset is an acute awareness of text, an asset so essential in this music. Sulayman uses this awareness to effect with, fluid musical shaping that obeys the demands of the text, while never being slave to the rigidity of the bar line. He has, too, the technique to open ‘Rosa del ciel’ with a true messa di voce  and the intelligence to bring, for example, delicious shaping and a sense of the joy of awakening love at the words ‘Fu ben felice …’ etc (Happy was the day, my love, when first I saw you). If I have a reservation (and this of course applies equally to other items on the CD) it concerns the singer’s reticence regarding ornamentation, especially at cadences, and a tentative approach to some of the more elaborate gorgie  that are such a hallmark of the early baroque. This is especially damaging in strophic songs, of which there are a number here, which surely demand subtle variation if they are to maintain the listener’s full attention.

The Orfeo  extracts, which include several sinfonias, are by no means the whole story and in addition to instrumental pieces by Castello and Cima, Sulayman sings an extract from Giulio Caccini’s Euridice  and songs by Caccini, D’India, Landi, Antonio Brunelli, and the achingly lovely ‘Folle è ben’ by Merula, sung to wonderfully expressive effect.

The dreaded words arr. J. Sorrell (and in a couple of cases R. Schiffer) appended to some items raised alarm bells that were soon stilled, since apart from a couple of questionable moments there is little to upset even the most fastidious of listeners. I do, however, have a problem with the contribution of Jeanette Sorrell’s Apollo’s Fire, not because of the quality of the playing, which is as excellent as ever, but with the resolutely 18th (rather than 17th) century sound of the strings, which – at least in the bass line – tends to sound thick-textured and even at times turgid, possibly at least in part a result of the unsuitable church acoustic. Notwithstanding, the splendid playing of Castello’s Sonata in D minor (from his Sonate concertate in stil moderno  of 1629) by violinist Julie Andrijeski deserves special mention, not least for its sprezzatura.

I’ve seen only an advance copy, but was sent texts and notes by both the singer and Sorrell, those of the former being interestingly personal, of the latter at times somewhat naïve; do we really need reference in 2018 to ‘the great Monteverdi’?

Brian Robins

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Categories
Recording

Arias for Silvio Garghetti: The Habsberg Star Tenor

Markus Miesenberger, Neue Wiener Hofkapelle
62:32
Pan Classics PC 10372

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is an interesting but ultimately seriously flawed project that leaves too many unanswered questions. Austrian tenor Markus Miesenberger has delved into the archives to research a tenor active at the Imperial court in the early years of 18th century, originally identified in the score of an opera by Giovanni Bononcini only by the name Silvio. Further research allowed Miesenberger to establish that this was almost certainly Silvio Garghetti, probably the member of a musical family who in the early years of the new century came to Vienna, where in 1705 he married the daughter of vice-Kapellmeister Marc’ Antonio Ziani, whose serenata La Flora  was given the following year. Interestingly La Flora  also features an aria by the Emperor Joseph I, a pleasing, light-hearted piece included on the present CD along with the Ziani. No further biographical detail has come to light, it being recorded only that ‘Silvio sang in numerous performances of operas and oratorios between 1706 and 1719’, making the assertion that he was a ‘star’ tenor at least questionable.

So far so good. Despite the lack of hard facts the hypothesis is at least tenable. However it is when Miesenberger attempts to tie Garghetti’s name to the arias on the disc that everything starts to unravel. Although he calls the source of all the arias recorded here operas, it is impossible to identify a significant number of them as such. I suspect that these pieces are rather dramatic cantatas or the kind of single-act serenata with a licenza that were popularly used to celebrate Imperial birthdays and so on. This suspicion is enhanced by the number of arias that have only sparse or continuo accompaniment, several of which also include obbligato parts. Miesenberger’s carelessness with nomenclature arouses suspicions about his scholarship that are compounded when one realises that his notes fail to mention that Garghetti was not the only ‘star’ tenor at the Viennese court during this period. Both Antonio Borosini and his son Francesco, Handel’s first Bajazet in Tamerlano, were employed there, the former nearing the end of his career, the latter just starting his. It is therefore a near certainty that given the lack of data, at least some of the arias recorded here were written for one or other Borosini. That certainly applies to the somewhat undistinguished ‘Di mia glorie’ from Francesco Conti’s Alba Cornelia  of 1714, which is a 3-act opera. Both Borosinis sang in it and given the extremely unlikely scenario that the opera included three tenor roles, it cannot have been composed for Garghetti. Indeed on the evidence provided here, it would not be possible to claim indisputably that any of these arias were composed for him.

Leaving aside the suspect research, the operas and other dramatic works of the Imperial court have to date received little attention, with the likes of Fux and Caldara better known for their sacred works. But the Bononcini brothers, Antonio Maria and particularly his elder brother Giovanni both produced important dramatic works for Joseph I in the first decade of the century. Five arias by them are included. Otherwise an aria by Conti, the court theorbist, from his 3 act opera Il finto policare  (1716) especially catches the ear by way of gentle descending sequential figures, but truth to tell there is little here that would set the Danube on fire.

That impression may at least in part be conveyed by Miesenberger’s performances. Although his lyric tenor is intrinsically quite pleasing he does not display the technique nor the necessary Italianate elegance and fluency for this repertoire. His way with embellishment is frequently perfunctory, with poorly articulated turns and some unstylish ornamentation of repeats; there’s a particularly wild example in the da capo of Antonio Bononcini’s Arminio  (1706), an opera (?) not listed in the composer’s New Grove  worklist. The Neue Wiener Hofkapelle provide efficient if hardly inspiring support, being in any case far too small an ensemble to do justice to the more fully scored arias that do come from operas that were originally written for an orchestra that employed up to 30 strings. In sum, I fear that this is a well-meaning but unsatisfactory attempt to cast light on a repertoire certainly in need of further investigation.

Brian Robins

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Categories
Recording

Un Opéra pour trois rois

A Versailles entertainment for Louis XIV, Louis XV & Louis XVI
Chantal Santon-Jeffrey, Emőke Baráth, Thomas Dolié, Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi
93:46 (2 CDs in a card folder)
Glossa GCD 924002

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is quite the daftest (musical) idea I have come across in quite some time, a pretentious conceit that simply does not work. It is surprising to find the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles cited as co-producers. Its objective can be found in the subtitle: ‘A Versailles entertainment for Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI’. So what we have is a pastiche that amounts to a huge divertissement with music drawn from composers ranging from Lully through to Gluck and Piccinni and arranged in roughly chronological order. Given that the work is stitched together to form a continuous whole divided into two parts, it, of course, makes little musical sense given the considerable stylistic differences to be encountered during a period spanning over 100 years.

Three characters are involved in this ‘opera’, Apollo (the bass Thomas Dolié), La Renommée (Fame) and La Gloire (Glory), sung by the sopranos Chantal Santon-Jeffery and Emőke Baráth. The text employed is unchanged from its place in the work from which it has been unceremoniously ripped, there thus being not only no dramatic sense or logical continuity, only confusing references to characters that play no part in the present entertainment. In a desperate search for positives, there is quite a lot of music that you won’t find anywhere else on records. I was, for example, delighted to make the acquaintance of the noble récitative  and chorus ‘La volonté du ciel’ from Dauvergne’s ballet Le Retour du printemps  (Versailles, 1765), while, if the chorus from Piccinni’s Atys  (Fontainebleau, 1780) is anything to go by, this tragédie lyrique  might be well worth an airing. But it has to be admitted that there’s some fairly mundane stuff here too, and, by and large, it is the familiar extracts that are the most satisfying. Indeed, in this company, the great opening chorus of lamentation for the dead Castor and aria for Telaire, ‘Tristes apprêts’, from Rameau’s Castor et Pollux  stand out like a shining beacon, though employing the ‘Air sauvage’, the hit number from the same composer’s Les Indes galantes, as the finale smacks of gratuitous opportunism rather than considered judgment.

‘Tristes apprêts’ is beautifully sung by Baráth, who is by some margin the best of the three soloists. As in the past, I find Santon-Jeffery one of the less appealing of the plethora of sopranos (and mezzos) France seems to produce so readily in the early music field. While the voice is not unattractive, it is not steady enough and she uses too much vibrato. Dolié is a bass I’ve greatly admired in the past, especially in György Vashegyi’s splendid recording of Mondonville’s Isbé, but he doesn’t seem at his best here. Similar reservations might be applied to Vashegyi’s direction, which – while never less than idiomatic – is a little earthbound, compared to earlier work in French Baroque repertoire. His period instrument orchestra plays well enough, but without the élan and finish of an ensemble like Les Talens Lyriques, who I’ve probably heard too much recently to avoid invidious comparisons. The choir, a sizable body, is capable but at times too opaque for this music.

Not then, I think, an essential recording and, having proved himself adept in this repertoire, I hope Vashegyi will another time give us something rather more substantial.

Brian Robins

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Categories
Concert-Live performance

Lully: Alceste

Les Talens Lyriques, Versailles, 12 December 2017

Christophe Rousset, director of Les Talens Lyriques

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]lthough the beautifully restored theatre in the palace of Versailles dates from a century after Lully’s day, it obviously makes for an appropriate venue for his operas. Indeed in the case of Alceste  it did have a contemporary performance at Versailles, some six months after its premiere at the Paris Opéra in January 1674. That occasion marked part of the celebrations following the victory over Franche-Comté, when in July Alceste  was given an open-air performance in the Cour de Marbre.

The concert performance given on 12 December was a continuation of Christophe Rousset’s peerless cycle of Lully’s operas, having been first given at the Beaune Festival in the summer. It also appeared on CD contemporaneously with the Versailles performance. Alceste was the second of Lully’s thirteen tragédies en musique. Like nearly all of them it has a libretto by Philippe Quinault based on the work of a classical author, in this case, Euripides’ Alcestis. To the considerable annoyance of the classicists of his day, Quinault took considerable liberties with the story of Alceste’s self-sacrifice to save her husband King Admetus (Admète) from death, in particular introducing a love triangle by making the hero Hercules (Alcide) a rival for the attentions of the queen. Worse still from the point of view of the purists, Quinault introduced a secondary and largely comic trio in the shape of the confidant(e)s Céphise, Lychas and Stratton. Today we are more likely to welcome the variation such mixed genres provide, but it is interesting that Lully and Quinault would quickly lead the way in dropping comic scenes, thus presaging a similar move by Italian opera by some two decades. Quinault’s libretto is indeed notable for its diversity, containing as it does a Prologue set on the banks of the Seine, a seaport and a sinking ship (act 1), dramatic battle scenes that inspired Lully to colourful pomp and brilliant orchestral effects (act 2), the darkness of the funeral obsequies for first Admetus, and later Alceste (act 3), Hercules’ journey to Hades to redeem Alceste, complete with a comic Charon, who worries that the massive hero will sink his boat (act 4), and a final act in which Admetus is initially overcome with joy by the return to life of Alceste, then distraught that he has lost her to Hercules, to whom he promised Alceste should the hero bring her back from Hades. Ultimately all is of course resolved by Hercules nobly returning her to her husband.

Lully sets all this in the flexible alternation between the récitative  he had evolved from the declamation he had studied in the theatre with the airs derived from the airs de cour  of the earlier part of the century. Completing the picture is of course dance, the divertissements  that concluded each act. If later tragédies en musique  are marked by greater maturity and development of the genre, the score of Alceste  is remarkable for its assurance and a use of the orchestra unrivalled by any other composer of the day. The playful character of the love games of the young Céphise with her suitors, contrasts strongly with the moving gravity of the mourning for both king and queen; it is a mark of the flexibility Quinault brought to his book that the flirtatious Céphise plays a deeply touching role in the lamentations for Alceste.

Rousset’s performance maintained the extraordinarily high quality of his previous Lully opera readings. Indeed, given that he here had a cast as near flawless as one has a right to expect the impact created will remain long in the mind. The revelation of the evening for me was mezzo Ambroisine Bré’s Céphise, pertly coquettish, yet also capable of deeper emotional responses. This is a lovely voice, fresh and evenly produced across its range, while also highly accomplished in the execution of ornamentation. Bass Edwin Crossley-Mercer, a Roussset stalwart was a rich-toned and authoritative Alcide, a figure of considerably greater sensitivity than the usual portrayals of Hercules as a rather dense strongman. As his rival, the haute contre  Emiliano Gonzalez Toro was a dignified Admeto, infinitely touching in his farewell scene with Alceste, deeply impressive in the king’s conflicting emotions at the start of act 5. Judith Van Wanroij’s Alceste was marked by a touching, empathetic warmth that extended to real understanding not only for her husband, but also Alcide, the other man who would give her his love. The many remaining parts were divided between five singers, each admirable, of whom Spanish soprano Lucia Martín Cartón and bass Douglas Williams particularly impressed, the latter as Lycomède, the warlike villain of the piece, and Charon. The Namur Chamber Choir have become the ‘go-to’ chorus for large chunks of the Baroque repertoire, their alert response and excellent characterisation here typical of their stellar work. Les Talens Lyriques responded with the finesse and fervour they invariably bring to their playing under their founder, who is now unshakably established as the outstanding Lully interpreter of our (and probably any) day.

Brian Robins

Categories
DVD Recording

Vinci: Didone abbandonata

Roberta Mameli Dido, Carlo Allemano Enea, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, dir. Carlo Ipata
166:00; 160:43
Dynamic 37788 (2 DVDs); CD37788.03 (3 CDs)

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he story of the tragic love between Dido and Aeneas, the substance of Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, has long formed an inspiration for painters, poets, dramatists and musicians. Following the invention of opera at the start of the 17th century, it would be a popular topic. Before the close of that century the story had inspired a number of operas, signifcantly those of Cavalli (1641) and of course Purcell. It is therefore of little surprise to find it the subject chosen by the greatest of 18th-century librettists for his first original drama.

Metastasio’s Didone abbandonato  was written in 1724, probably with some assistance from his close friend, the singer actress Maria Anna Benti (known as ‘La Romanina’), being originally set by the Neapolitan composer Domenico Sarro. Thereafter it would become one of the poet’s most favoured dramatic works, employed on more than 60 (!) occasions. Among the earliest versions was that of Leonardo Vinci, whose setting was premiered in Rome’s Teatro delle Dame during the Carnival season of 1726. Vinci’s Didone abbandonato  retained Metastasio’s most innovative feature, the highly dramatic tragic ending, where he writes a series of accompanied recitatives leading to the abandoned Didone’s immolation among the flames of burning Carthage. Metastasio’s version also fleshes out the story by providing additional characters or expanding the part played by those already in Virgil’s account, among them Dido’s African suitor Iarbas (Iarba in the opera) and her sister Anna, here renamed Selene. She provides additional love interest by also being in love with Aeneas, Selene in turn being loved by Araspe, the confidant of Iarba. The cast list is completed by Didone’s treacherous confidant Osmida.

Vinci’s music for them provides opportunities for both Didone and Enea to create strong personalities. Didone’s opening aria ‘Io son regina’ (I am queen) immediately establishes a strong, proud and stubborn persona. She will be at her most imperious and magnificent in her defiance of Iarbas in their act 2 confrontation, but the chromatic pain of the superb ‘Se vuoi ch’io mora’ (If you want me dead) (act 2) finds her at her most vulnerable as her scorn for the departing Enea suddenly evaporates to total capitulation. In that final sequence of accompagnati  she rises to true tragic stature as she first rails then grieves before accepting the fate she (correctly) predicts will bring her lasting fame. Enea, too, emerges as a truly heroic figure to a far greater degree than Nahum Tate and Purcell ever allow him to be. Most of his arias are cast in the heroic mode and in his dialogue he makes a far better case for fulfilling his destiny. Other characters are less well rounded. Selene has several coloratura arias, but Iarba and the minor characters have perhaps rather too many ‘simile’ arias for contemporary taste, though of course they served a function in showing the vocal strength of the original singers.

The present set is taken from a production given at the Opera di Firenze in January 2017. Sadly both production and performance fall well short of ideal. Much the visual best feature is the sumptuous costumes, in particular the red and gold dresses of respectively Didone and Selene, both overlaid with brass cages. Their blond tresses are somewhat less convincing. Enea, too, looks every inch the Trojan hero, particularly given the stature and presence of tenor Carlo Allemano, the only drawback being that he looks rather too mature. It would be good to report that acting and movement matched. They don’t; on the contrary they are mostly very poor and often inelegant. Just occasionally there is a brief hint, usually from Roberta Mameli’s Didone, that someone has looked at a book about 18th-century gesture. They then obviously closed it again pretty quickly. The single set opens well enough, with a static projection suggesting the partially built Carthage and ships in the harbour. Thereafter it is downhill all the way, with much irritating shadowy movement back projected, often distracting attention from arias. Bearing in mind that we are on the Mediterranean, the set is also far too continuously dark and drab.

Conductor Carlo Ipata has a number of respectable period instrument recordings to his credit (with his Auser Musici), but his direction of the modern orchestra strings of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino orchestra is here disappointingly wooden and rhythmically square. The playing is exceptionally poor, with ensemble at times barely reaching decent professional standard. Much the best singing comes from Mameli’s Didone and Allemano’s Enea, though the latter is poor with articulating passaggi and ornamentation and some of Mameli’s top notes tend to be wayward, especially when attempting ill-advised octave leaps in da capo

’s. Countertenor Raffaele Pé’s Iarba is well sung, too, but his acting – as produced – is the stuff of pantomime villains. None of the remaining members of the cast (Gabriella Costa as Selene, Marta Pluda’s Araspe and Giada Frasconi’s Osmida) are any way noteworthy apart from the fact that all have pitch problems, Costa being especially wayward at times.

The recording, which is identical in the DVD or CD versions, can be given a very guarded welcome as an acceptable version of an important seminal opera. But, in truth, this is only a stopgap and one can only hope for a recording that does the opera greater justice. An Italian/English libretto can be downloaded

Brian Robins

Categories
Concert-Live performance

Salieri – The School of Jealousy (La scuola de’ gelosi)

Bampton Classical Opera Salieri The School of Jealousy Act 2 Quintet, l to r Rhiannon Llewellyn (Countess), Alessandro Fisher (Count), Thomas Herford (Lieutenant), Nathalie Chalkley (Ernestina), Matthew Sprange (Blasio)
Bampton Classical Opera Salieri The School of Jealousy Act 2 Quintet, l to r Rhiannon Llewellyn (Countess), Alessandro Fisher (Count), Thomas Herford (Lieutenant), Nathalie Chalkley (Ernestina), Matthew Sprange (Blasio)

Bampton Classical Opera, Westonbirt School (Gloucs), 28 August

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ver the past quarter of a century Bampton Classical Opera (BCO) has established an unrivalled record for the revival of later 18th century operas, including a number of UK first performances. Among these is Salieri’s Falstaff, today recognised as one the composer’s finest operas. For its 2017 production, given at Bampton, Westonbirt School and St John’s Smith Square, BCO turned to an earlier Salieri opera, La scuola de’ gelosi, first performed at the Teatro San Moise in Venice in 1778 and revived with some new music five years later at the Burgtheater in Vienna to inaugurate the new Italian opera company. Thereafter it became one of Salieri’s most popular operas, with performances not only throughout Italy, but also in Germany, London and St Petersburg.

A dramma giocoso  in two acts, La scuola  has a libretto by Caterino Mazzolà (later to achieve lasting fame as the adaptor of Metastasio’s La clemenza di Tito  for Mozart’s final opera) owing much to the comedies of Goldoni. Like many of them, it introduces three distinct social classes: a Count and Countess – the latter a mezzo carattere  role that includes a superb seria accompaganato  and aria ‘Or ei con Ernestina’ … ‘Ah sia già de miei sospiri’ – a merchant and his wife, and a male and female servant. The cast is completed by the Lieutenant, the Don Alfonso-like manipulator of the goings-on that form a storyline revolving around the efforts of the Count, a small-time predator like Figaro’s Almaviva rather than a Don Giovanni, to seduce the merchant Blasio’s wife, Ernestina, thus invoking the jealousy of the Countess and Blasio. The Lieutenant advises them to turn the tables and make their spouses jealous. After a series of farcical events the ploy works, the lessons learned in the ‘school of jealousy’ bring reunion and happiness to all. The richly varied score is remarkable perhaps above all for its ensembles, in particular the act 1 trio for the Countess, Count and Lieutenant, and the act 2 quintet that broke new ground in 1778 by being the largest ensemble piece to be introduced into the middle of an act.

As is customary with BCO, the opera was given in an English translation that amused the Westonbirt audience with its introduction of such topical terms as ‘fake news’. The set design, costumes and production (by Jeremy Gray) itself were unexceptionably traditional, with folding panels that could with ease change the rooms from the rich blue of the Count’s salon to the more bourgeois surroundings of Blasio’s house. The costumes were slightly post-dated to Biedermeier (Blasio resembled an older Schubert).

The performance in the Orangery Terrace at Westonbirt School on 28 August was my first experience of BCO. For a company that specialises in later 18th opera there were several surprising elements. The first was the use of modern instruments rather than period instruments, which I understand are used because BCO’s main performances at their home in Bampton are open air, always a problem for period strings. It did not work at Westonbirt, being not only too loud for the space but played with a lack of finesse only enhanced by the rigid four-square rhythms of Anthony Kraus’ direction. Matthew Sprange’s Blasio dominated the cast, his richly rounded and well-focussed baritone a source of pleasure throughout the evening. None of the rest of the cast came up to this level, although Nathalie Chalkley brought a lively personality if at times shrill voice to the role of Ernestina. I derived little pleasure from Rhiannon Llewellyn’s singing of the Countess, finding her tone too insecure in the upper range, though I suspect the acoustic was not very kind to her voice. The tenor parts of the Count (Alessandro Fisher) and Lieutenant (Thomas Herford) were decently sung, though the weak lower range of the latter resulted in him being frequently overpowered by the orchestra. The other major surprise, again bearing in mind this is a company specialising in this repertoire, was the lack of appoggiaturas and absence of cadential flourishes and ornamentation. It all served to give the performance a curiously old-fashioned feel. But I don’t want to end on a negative note. Although greater attention to style would make its achievements even more significant, Bampton Classical Opera is doing a sterling job in a still undervalued repertoire

Brian Robins

Categories
Recording

Carnevale 1729

Ann Hallenberg, il pomo d’oro, Stefano Montanari
129:56 [recte: 98:40!] (2 CDs in a cardboard box)
Pentatone PTC 5186 678
Music by Albinoni, Gaicomelli, Leo, Orlandini, Porpora & Vinci

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he early music world has now become accustomed to the concept operatic recital, often designed around the repertoire of one of the great singers of the 18th century. This 2-disc set, devised by Helger Schmitt-Hallenberg, the musicologist husband of mezzo Ann Hallenberg, takes a rather different approach, concentrating on the repertoire given in Venice in the Carnival season of 1728/9. The choice could hardly have been shrewder. It was an extraordinary season that not only featured new works by some of the leading opera composers of the day – names such as Leonardo Leo, Geminiano Giacomelli, Tomaso Albinoni, Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Nicola Porpora and Leonardo Vinci – but a glittering array of star singers including Faustina Bordini and the castratos Senesino, Farinelli and Nicolini, Handel’s first Rinaldo. It is impossible to think of any festival today that could start to match such a line up.

The operas included that winter provide the Hallenbergs with a bountiful choice, it being noteworthy that despite the inclusion of composers who today are virtually unknown the musical quality is remarkably high throughout. Indeed, in the case of the extracts from an opera such as Leo’s Catone in Utica  I suspect strongly that we are looking at a work that demands revival. The excerpts from Orlandini’s Adelaide  also suggest an opera that would warrant further attention, though the eponymous heroine’s ‘Non sempre invendicata’, a Bordoni aria, is lifted from being a fairly conventional aria di furia  by Hallenberg’s dazzling coloratura virtuosity and powerful chest notes.

The bar for the whole recital is set high from the first aria, ‘Mi par sentir’ from Gianguir  by Giacomelli, a some-time pupil of Alessandro Scarlatti who apparently shared his master’s reputation for writing ‘difficult’ music. But there is nothing remotely difficult about this exquisitely lovely aria, which features an obbligato oboe (played here with a sensitivity that does not avoid the odd moment of sourness) and pizzicato strings. Hallenberg’s singing of it is a master-class in Baroque performance practice, with elegantly shaped phrasing and precise articulation of passaggi, along with an acute attention to text that should be studied by all aspiring singers of this repertoire. The variation of vocal colouring and subtlety of expression is also something to be wondered at; one need only listen to the different accentuation brought to ‘caro’, the final word of the A section, to be aware of an artist who has thought deeply about her performances. Here as elsewhere the ornamentation of the da capo is also an object lesson, with decoration that never steps beyond the bounds of taste to distort the melodic line.

The second excerpt from Adelaide  brings a long and fine accompagnato to introduce the aria, it being projected with intense dramatic purpose, before moving into a beautiful cantabile aria, ‘Quanto bella’ with violin obbligato, splendidly played by Montanari. Here one notes especially Hallenberg’s superb mezzo voce  and her precise articulation of the chain of trills that remind us of the inadequacy of most vocal performances of Baroque music, where one is lucky to hear a trill, let alone a whole sequence of them.

It would be possible, if idle, to subject every track on this peerless set to such commentary. These are performances to hear, not talk about. Suffice it to say there is much more treasure here, ranging from three arias from Porpora’s marvellous Semiramide riconosciuta  to a gloriously spun performance of Emilia’s heartbreakingly lovely ‘Ombra cara’ from Leo’s Catone in Utica, where Hallenberg’s splendidly secure upper range comes into its own. Il pomo d’oro provides fine support throughout, with some truly Italianate legatos where appropriate. Finally, don’t take any notice of the timings for the two CDs given on the box, which are wildly inaccurate. The (very short) total timing is that given in my heading. No matter. This is a superlative set that demands to be in every collection of Baroque opera enthusiasts. Were Ann Hallenberg working within the parameters of mainstream opera I have for some while had absolutely no doubt that she would be rated among today’s great singers.

Brian Robins

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Categories
Recording

Monteverdi: L’Orfeo

Mirko Guadagnini Orfeo, Emanuela Galli La Musica/Euridice, Marina De Liso Messaggiera, Cristina Calzolari Proserpina, Matteo Bellotto Plutone, José Maria Lo Monaco Speranza, Salvo Vitale Caronte, Vincenzo Di Donato Apollo, Francesca Cassinari Ninfa, Giovanni Caccamo Pastore I, Makoto Sakurada Pastore II/ Spirito I, Claudio Cavina Pastore III, Tony Corradini Pastore IV/Spirito II, La Venexiana, Claudio Cavina
114:52 (2 CDs in a cardboard box)
Glossa GCD 920941

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]riginally recorded in 2006, but out of the catalogue for some time, this reissue of La Venexiana’s Orfeo  has obviously been timed to contribute to the celebrations for the 250 anniversary of the composer’s birth. Claudio Cavina came to it on the back of a cycle of the composer’s madrigals, an intégrale  that in my view served the earlier books better than the later ones. In any event Orfeo  is a rather different undertaking, though of course it contains madrigalian choruses, so it is interesting to discover – I missed the set first time round – that my principal reservations are much in line with those I had about some of the madrigals.

These reservations can be summed up in one word: portentousness. As he did with the later books of madrigals, Cavina has sought to impose a layering of flexible expressiveness that is surely foreign to the music. This makes itself manifest in some curious rhythmic decisions, but above all in tempos that result in what may be the longest performance of the opera on CD. If one takes as just a single example ‘Possente spirto’, Orfeo’s appeal to Charon (the boatman of the Styx) and the most famous set piece in the opera, is much the slowest performance I’ve ever heard. Not only does this undermine the whole point of the song, which becomes tedious rather than seductive, but it also causes problems for the singer Mirko Guadagnini, who is at times unable to sustain accurate pitch. Guadagnini is in any event a rather average Orfeo, missing much of the passion of the role and coping only moderately well with the florid ornamentation that is such an integral part of ‘Possente spirto’. While on the subject of ornamentation, there is throughout the set a disappointing lack of it, the topic going un-remarked in a long and somewhat pretentious essay on the subject of the performance practice adopted.

The remainder of the cast is variable. Emanuela Galli sings both La Musica and Euridice. The instrumental introduction to the former is introduced in heavily mannered style, but I like the way Galli varies each of the five strophic verses and she is very good indeed with dramatising the text. Her Euridice is fine, if not especially remarkable and her sad return to Hades after the fatal glance is nothing like as moving as that of the young British soprano Rachel Ambrose Evans in the performance by I Fagiolini I’d seen just a couple of weeks earlier. The large cast of supporting singers varies in accomplishment from a poor Speranza to the excellent Plutone of Matteo Bellotto, but is in general terms more than serviceable, although again some of Cavina’s tempos are most likely responsible for the odd pitch problem experienced by some of them. Given that Cavina would surely not dream of employing multiple voices to a part in Monteverdi’s madrigals, it seems curious (and unconvincing) that he has expanded the chorus here. The overall excellence of the instrumental playing is one of the unreserved plusses, but in sum this is not a performance I would feature in a recommended list of Orfeo  recordings.

Brian Robins

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Categories
Recording

Arias for Nicolino

Carlo Vistoli countertenor, Talenti Vulcanici, Stefano Demicheli
62:26
Arcana A 427
Handel, Pergolesi, Sarro & A. Scarlatti

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]amous for creating the eponymous role in Handel’s spectacularly successful opera Rinaldo, Nicola Grimaldi – known as Nicolino – was as admired for his lyrical voice as his refined abilities as an actor, the second of these allowing him to draw in the crowds until his death at 59 when his voice was probably past its youthful best. Carlo Vistoli is yet another of the current crop of remarkable male alto voices, whose vocal ease even in the higher registers in which Nicolino excelled is apparent.

And having introduced us to his readings of three arias from Rinaldo  with orchestral episodes, he also performs other music inspired and sung by Nicolino, including Arias from Alessandro Scarlatti’s Il Cambise  and Pergolesi’s Salustia  as well as a section from Arsace  by the relatively unknown Neapolitan composer Domenico Natale Sarro. As more attention is paid to the rich Baroque operatic scene in Naples, it can come as no surprise that Sarro turns out to be a composer of striking capabilities and originality. Talenti Vulcanici are another of these superb Baroque ensembles specializing in accompanying operatic Divas and Divos. Are they cloning these somewhere secretly, or are the same excellent players regularly meeting up under different names? It would seem not, and that these groups have simply sprung up to meet a growing demand for Baroque opera live and on CD. A CD like this ultimately stands or falls on the merits of the soloist, and with a couple of slight reservations, mainly regarding excessive vibrato when he turns up the volume, I must say that Vistoli provides thoughtful and vocally impressive accounts of this dramatic music.

D. James Ross

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Categories
Recording

Queens: Handel – opera arias

Roberta Invernizzi, Accademia Hermans, Fabio Ciofini
78:02
Glossa GCD 922904
Music from Alcina, Berenice, Giulio Cesare, Giustino, Lotario, Poro & Scipione

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his CD draws upon the many queens who grace Handel operas, although also the chief female opera divas, Cuzzoni and Strada del Pò, whose technical skill and dramatic presences inspired the music for his most successful female roles. An extended and slightly laboured playing-card metaphor dominates the programme notes, which however also find time to paint in some context for these major female influences on Handel’s writing. Invernizzi is in splendid voice, characterizing Handel’s heroines with a wonderfully varied vocal palette. For some she finds an almost shrew-like quality in her versatile voice, for others a rapturous lyricism, and only occasionally did I find the mannered vibrato in her upper range disconcerting – she more than amply shows that she can sing pure upper notes, but is inclined to lapse into vibrato if these are held for any duration. This is a tiny and maybe idiosyncratic objection to a generally superb and extremely expressive voice.

Ms. Invernizzi is beautifully supported by Accademia Hermans, one of the veritable plethora of simply superb period operatic instrumental ensembles which seem to have sprung up over the last decade. They play with absolute unanimity and powerful expressiveness, and are given a couple of instrumental slots which provide a bit of relief from the otherwise wall-to-wall arias. These are all performances to savour, and are wonderfully evocative of the golden age of Baroque opera in the London of first half of the 18th century.

D. James Ross

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