Viva Villazon!

 

Release Date: 04/23/2008 Label: Virgin Classics Number of discs: 2 Composer: Various Performer: Rolando Villazón cd info/ buy

Review:

The most exciting tenor during the first decade of the new millennium has undoubtedly been Rolando Villazón. He has a charming appearance, is a good actor, has a voice that besides brilliance and beauty can also express all kinds of nuance, he has good taste and a versatility that is stunning. In other words he has all the attributes to make him a star performer. More than once his voice has been compared to that of the young Placido Domingo. In certain repertoire, notably on this set in the two zarzuela arias, the similarities are so close that one has to check who is singing. As can be seen from the track list, we are treated to a large number of the expected standard arias. Few of them have been better sung in recent times. We are also treated to several comparative rarities, which makes this an attractive buy even for those who are already well stocked with the standard stuff. When, for example, did you last hear something from Gounod’s Polyeucte or Massenet’s Le Mage and Roma? The sacred song by Berlioz is also something for the rarity list. Make no mistake: these are high quality pieces that are very likely to become friends to which you will want to return.

 

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Lamenti - Emmanuelle Haim, Le Concert d'Astree

 

Release Date: 10/14/2008 Label: Virgin Classics Number of discs: 1 Composers: Various Performer: Emmanuelle Haïm,  Le Concert D'Astrée cd info/ buy

Review:

Lamentation may be the theme of this collection of vocal music from the Italian Baroque, but the line-up of artists gives ample cause for celebration. After her recent all-star Virgin Classics recording of Bach's Magnificat and Handel's Dixit Dominus, Emmanuelle Haïm has chosen an exceptional and diverse array of soloists for this programme of vocal works by Monteverdi, Carissimi, Cavalli, Cesti, Landi and Strozzi. The literary and dramatic form of the lamento reached its musical apogee in the 17th century with Monteverdi's Lamento d'Arianna, a fragment from a lost opera. The abandoned princess is sung here by Véronique Gens, who made such an impression with her Virgin Classics recital Tragédiennes. Another abandoned woman, this time a nymph, is embodied by the sylph-like Natalie Dessay in the same composer's Lamento della ninfa from the Eighth Book of Madrigals, while his song of Orpheus is entrusted to intense Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón, the maybe unexpected hero in Haïm's 2006 Virgin Classics recording of Monteverdi's Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. More Monteverdi comes from Joyce DiDonato, the superb American mezzo who recently signed to EMI/Virgin Classics as an exclusive artist; she dons the mantle of a deposed Empress for Ottavia's farewell to Rome from L'incoronazione di Poppea. More recent royal history is gracefully addressed by Patrizia Ciofi in Carissimi's Lamento di Maria Stuarda, while Philippe Jaroussky brings his brilliant countertenor to Barbara Strozzi's dramatic monologue L'Eraclito amoroso, probably written for the composer to sing herself. The Finn Topi Lehtipuu, described by the Daily Telegraph as "one of the most elegant and musical young lyric tenors to have emerged for a decade" portrays Aeneas in a setting by Cavalli; the British baritone Christopher Purves gives evidence of his stylistic range – he is also an exceptional Wozzeck – in Landi, while France's reigning bass-baritone, Laurent Naouri becomes the Beotian king Atamante in Cesti's Dure noie. Completing the line-up are the lush-voiced Canadian mezzo Marie-Nicole Lemieux and the young British tenor Simon Wall, reaffirming that lovers of fine singing will have nothing to complain about... Composer:  Pier Francesco Cavalli,  Claudio Monteverdi,  Barbara Strozzi,  Giacomo Carissimi,  Stefano Landi, Pietro Antonio Cesti Performer:  Rolando Villazón,  Christopher Purves,  Simon Wall,  Natalie Dessay,  Topi Lehtipuu, Philippe Jaroussky,  Véronique Gens,  Joyce DiDonato,  Patrizia Ciofi, Marie-Nicole Lemieux,  Laurent Naouri

 

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Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea – Gardiner,English Baroque Soloists

 

Release Date: June 11, 1996 Label: Archiv Number of discs: 3 Composer: Claudio Monteverdi Performer: John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists cd info/ buy

Review:

Monteverdi's final opera really is a masterpiece, but its libretto requires close attention--this is not an opera for casual listeners. There is no ideal recording of Poppea currently available--Gardiner's version, while flawed, has many admirable qualities. Sylvia McNair is a gorgeous, sensuous Poppea; Dana Hanchard is the finest Nero on record--her soprano expresses the role's capricious willfulness without having to shout the top notes; Catherine Bott is a particularly fine Drusilla. Much of the rest of the cast sounds uncomfortable with Monteverdi and sings far too operatically--the most unfortunate performance in this respect is from the great Anne Sofie Von Otter, whose stentorian Ottavia overwhelms Monteverdi's lightly scored music. Still, this recording's many fine points make it worthwhile listening. --Matthew Westphal  Performed by English Baroque Soloists with Peter Holman, Francesco Ellero D'Artegna, Bernarda Fink, Julian Clarkson, Constanze Backes, Sylvia McNair, Dana Hanchard, Noel Mann, Mark Tucker, Catherine Bott Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner

 

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Monteverdi - Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria - Jacobs, Concerto Vocale

 

Release Date: November 5, 1993 Label: November 5, 1993 Number of discs: 3 Composer: Claudio Monteverdi Performer: Rene Jacobs, Concerto Vocale cd info/ buy

Review:

Essential recording. Monteverdi's late operas The Return of Ulysses and The Coronation of Poppea are surprisingly unlike the more familiar L'Orfeo. The last, written for the Mantuan court, is really more lavish pageant (with appropriately lavish orchestra) than serious drama; Ulysses and Poppea, written for commercial Venetian opera houses, have librettos of real literary and dramatic merit--and (according to surviving manuscripts) no instruments other than basso continuo. (The typical Venetian "pit orchestra" of the 1640s had only bass viol and a few harpsichords and lutes, with perhaps two violins playing semi-improvised parts.) Most modern conductors reviving Ulysses and Poppea have felt the need to add instrumental parts--to make the operas, in effect, more like L'Orfeo. René Jacobs is no exception: not only has he imported instrumental interludes from other Monteverdi works, he has composed extensive parts for cornetts, violins, and recorders to accompany the singers and assigned one tenor role (Telemachus) to a soprano. Jacobs's booklet notes are admirably frank about his having done all this basically because he likes it that way. This sort of thing would not be tolerated with, say, Otello or Parsifal, but never mind--the results may not be pure(-ist) Monteverdi, but they're effective, even exciting, on their own terms. In the title role, tenor Christoph Prégardien is believably heroic, yet totally comfortable with Monteverdian style; his Penelope, contralto Bernarda Fink, has (as do several other members of the cast) a legato vocal technique and a vibrato that would sound more at home in Mozart--yet she never overwhelms the music and acts her part with real commitment. Other standouts in the cast include Guy de Mey as the gluttonous Irus and, as the goddess Minerva, "La Divina" Lorraine Hunt. This recording grew directly out of a staged production--and it shows: whatever its conceptual flaws, this is the most dramatically compelling recording of a Monteverdi opera I've ever encountered. --Matthew Westphal

 

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Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione Di Poppea – Ivor Bolton

This masterpiece by Claudio Monteverdi--arguably one of the greatest operas ever penned--has done quite well on recordings. Since the autograph score doesn't exist (what does exist are the sources of performances given in Naples eight years after the premiere) the instrumentation is left up to the conductor/arranger. My first contact with Poppea was through Nikolaus Harnoncourt's 1974 Teldec (then Telefunken) set, in which he augmented the strings and added winds and brass--all authentic instruments, of course--and the effect was brilliant. His cast was near-ideal as well. Since then Poppea recordings have come and gone, countertenor Neros are all the rage, and slimmed down orchestration--almost to continuo only--is perfectly acceptable. In 1990 Richard Hickox led a lean but mean performance on Virgin Classics and now conductor Ivor Bolton follows suit--and more effectively, I might add. Using only five string players and a barrage of continuo instruments--lute, guitar, harp, two harpsichords, organ, chitarrone, and viola da gamba--he still manages to generate some real fire in this nasty, amoral tale, and he's handsomely abetted by his cast.

Both Anna Caterina Antonacci and (countertenor) David Daniels are fearless as Poppea and Nero; purists may argue that they employ more vibrato and lean on notes in a very un-pre-Baroque fashion, but who cares? They present us with portraits of these two holy terrors that are unforgettable. Similarly, Kurt Moll's big-scale Seneca is thrilling in its nobility and morality--two traits that get the character killed, by the way. Dominique Visse sings the travesty role of Poppea's nurse, Arnalta, and he is by turns wildly campy and tender (in the lullaby), just as he should be. Alex Köhler's Ottone is nicely sniveling, Nadja Michael offers an Ottavia to reckon with and feel for, and Dorothea Röschmann gives Drusilla more energy than most and it's truly alluring. And high praise also must be given to boy soprano Klaus von Gleissenthal's Amor--a colorful, right on-pitch, realistically acted portrayal. Bolton's pacing is ideal and his band cannot be praised highly enough. Fabulous!--Robert Levine

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