Recordings for all seasons
2022; Oxford University Press; Volume: 50; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/em/caac058
ISSN1741-7260
Autores Tópico(s)Diverse Musicological Studies
ResumoThis review covers a sextet of recordings from 2013 to 2021, traversing repertory from the early 16th to the early 19th centuries. Male and female composers are represented, well known and obscure (to varying degrees). The genres and instruments are diverse, as is the range of performance contexts from which they arose: domestic, salon, café, theatre, royal courts and pleasure gardens. Some of the music will be familiar to many but the batch also includes several world premiere recordings. While a single thematic thread is thus difficult to find they are, however, all exemplars of high quality. Given the range of these recordings it seems apt to begin with Forma Antiqva’s Opera Zapico (Winter & Winter, 910 206-2, rec 2013), a collection of opera pieces, Monteverdi to Mozart, arranged as instrumentals by the Zapico brothers: Aarón (harpsichord, organ), Daniel (theorbo) and Pablo (Baroque guitar, archlute), with an excellent supporting cast. The disc includes reimaginings of arias from Mozart, Rameau, Caldara, Landi, Handel, José de Nebra, Cavalli, Monteverdi and Purcell. The disc also includes arrangements of J. C. Bach’s Artaserse overture and the chaconne from Purcell’s Fairy Queen; it ends with a rendition of Belinda’s ‘Thanks to these lonesome vales’ (Dido and Aeneas), the chorus sung by the El León de Oro choir. The recording is well produced; the arrangements and performances are modern, lively and imaginative. Widely known arias such as ‘Batti, batti, o bel Masetto’, and Dido’s lament, are given alongside less-well-known numbers such as the delightful ‘Quella Clizia innamorata’ from Caldara’s Il più bel nome. Naturally much of the emotion of these works derives from the singer and the words, which is hard to replicate (for example, even with the wistful cornetto on ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’), but there is nevertheless a certain evocative charm throughout the recording. Despite being a ‘Limited-Deluxe-Hardcover-Edition’ the disc includes no programme notes, and the booklet offers limited information overall: a missed opportunity to explain the rationale behind this eclectic selection.
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