Monteverdi: Orfeo

Advantages: full
Disadvantages: nobody

...Work of 1762, it represents sure the tastes and the topics of the age. The booklet is rigorously in written Italian and from Ranieri De' Calzabigi, it follows the outline of subdivision in three actions and more scenes, and put in music from Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 -1787). This work constitutes the watershed between a baroccheggiante way of dealing the grand opera and new tonalities that will carry to the great operistica season of the 800. The booklet is elaborated on the cue of Greek myths, a lot in voga to the age, and in particular from that one of Orfeo and its incredible history of love with Euridice. In synthesis: Orfeo was son of Apollo and Calliope; the God Apollo gave it a Lira with which lofty Orfeo bicame an "citareda". Euridice, instead, was daughter of Nereo and Doride, and its beauty, beyond that to make... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: sublime music
Disadvantages: the hour it lasts is far too short!

...This budget album captures some of the most sublime pieces of Monteverdi's religious music. It consists of excerpts from works written over a period of 40 years, from the famous Vespers of 1610 to the Mass, Psalms and Litany to the Virgin published posthumously in 1650. The settings are for two sopranos and alto, soprano and alto, soprano solo and alto solo, accompanied by various combinations of organ, cello, violins, harpsichord and theorbo. The alto part is taken by the outstanding male alto Rene Jacobs, who also directs the ensemble. Judith Nielson is the principal soprano, and is joined in one piece by soprano Birgit Grenat. The sound of the music is something quite extraordinary. Melodies are interwoven, one against the other, sometimes colliding into unexpected dissonances which then resolve into perfect harmonies... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Kasarova's personal touch. Virtuosic without showing off
Disadvantages: She doesn't keep singing forever

...any legato line to achieve it. Like her idol, WA Mozart, this gal can operate within the boundary while generating a singing experience that transcends it. The tracks included are: 1. HANDEL: Rinaldo: Or la tromba in suon festante 2. GLUCK: Orfeo ed Euridice: Che faro senza Euridice 3. MOZART: Le nozze di Figaro: Voi che sapete che cosa e amor 4. MOZART: Don Giovanni: Batti, batti, o bel Masetto 5. ROSSINI: La Cenerentola: Nacqui all'affanno/ Non piu mesta 6. ROSSINI: Il barbiere di Siviglia: Una voce poco fa 7. ROSSINI: L'Italiana in Algeri: Amici in ogni evento/ Pensa alla patra 8. DONIZETTI: Anna Bolena: Spossa a Percy/ Per questa fiamma indomita 9. DONIZETTI: La Favorita: Fia dunque vero/ O mio Fernando 10. BELLINI: I Capuleti e i Montecchi: Se Romeo t'uccise un figlio Her repertoire had grown even wider since this CD... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful