CD and Other Review

Review: Bellini: Adelson e Salvini (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Rustioni)

The clue is in the title. Bellini’s ‘graduation opera’ Adelson e Salvini is more buffo bromance than tragic romance, and none the worse for it. Composed while he was still a student at Naples’ Royal College of Music, and premiered by an all-male cast of fellow students in 1825, the work is a precociously tuneful, intermittently dramatic affair (though the less said about the 17th-century Irish plot the better). Rossini and Mozart are plentifully represented here in the younger composer’s first opera, but there are also tantalising hints of the mature composer to come, and this premiere recording by Opera Rara does its youthful promise proud. Opera Rara know how to put together a cast, and this one’s no exception. Baritone Simone Alberghini (Lord Adelson) and tenor Enea Scala (his friend, the painter Salvini) battle for the affections of the magnificent Daniela Barcellona’s Nelly – richly resonant, painting her vocal lines with the thickest of brush-strokes – while Maurizio Muraro blusters and booms characterfully as the Leporello-ish manservant Bonifacio. Rising young conductor Daniele Rustioni shapes an affectionate and lightfooted account of the score, deploying some lovely solo woodwind textures (skittish flutes for Bonifacio, melancholic oboes for Nelly’s Romanza Dopo l’oscuro…

July 12, 2017
CD and Other Review

Review: Handel: Theodora (Les Arts Florissants/William Christie)

You have to admit, Handel knew how to craft a drama equal with the best at HBO. Theodora is a masterpiece, and with the drama focussed on the relationships between the central four characters, superbly sung, this is a story that resonates easily with modern audiences. With unity in direction, concept and lighting, this is a fantastic production. Although he’s top billing, Philippe Jaroussky (Didyme) is the weakest member of this ensemble of singing actors. Vocally, he is stunning, but a stronger presence on stage would have made more of the juxtaposition between the feminine quality of his vocal tone and the traditional heroism of his character. The soldier’s physicality is a little uncomfortable, and in stark contrast to his masculine costuming. However, Kresimir Spicer (Septime) is so astonishingly good that the comparison is a little unfair. He sails through the notorious Dread the Fruits of Christian Folly, with gravity defying coloratura while Descend, Kind Pity reveals his astonishing legato. The female cast is just as strong. Katherine Watson (Theodora) is youthful and sweet, balancing the steel and sweetness of the martyr. Her Irene is the captivating Stephanie d’Oustrac, whose extraordinary presence translates effortlessly to screen. William Christie paces superbly…

July 12, 2017
CD and Other Review

Review: Carl Heinrich Graun Opera Arias (Julia Lezhneva, Concerto Köln/Mikhail Antonenko)

Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759) shared Hasse’s popular acclaim and fondness for effervescent coloratura. Unlike Hasse, however, his music has remained confined to the archives, and it has fallen to Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva to dust it off. The arias here – world premieres all, save one – make a startlingly strong case for Graun’s music in all its exhilarating virtuosity and emotional variety. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of Lezhneva, whose advocacy is blighted by technical problems. Something has gone badly wrong with this voice. Back in 2010, aged just 21, Lezhneva had a winning combination of purity and agility, and a lovely ease to her production. But vocal quirks and an increasingly manufactured delivery have crystallised into a voice that has retained agility, but at the cost of power and tonal control. Lezhneva now sounds like a precocious boy-treble – light and nimble, but snatching at top notes, swooping through intervals, blurting through legato passages. A shame, as there’s some thrilling music, stylishly performed by the exemplary Concerto Köln. Graun’s two styles – poised and proto-galant in ballads, outdoing even Vinci for brilliance in the stormy numbers – make for a disc of contrasts. There’s simple beauty in…

July 7, 2017
CD and Other Review

Review: Catharsis (Xavier Sabata, Armonia Atenea/George Petrou)

In Aristotle’s Poetics, catharsis was considered a desirable state brought about by arousing and magnifying the emotions in such a way that the spectator’s inner being would be purified. The best way to do this, Aristotle reckoned, was to evoke fear and pity by confronting an audience with a vision of souls in torment. The musical equivalent is what Catalan countertenor Xavier Sabata aims to induce on the enterprising Aparté label with a string of mostly unknown opera seria arias by the likes of Orlandini, Conti, Torri, Caldara, Ariosti and Sarro plus a handful of classics from Handel, Hasse and Vivaldi thrown in for good measure and a nod to marketing. Not that marketing needs much help. With the hirsute Sabata taking what I presume is a cathartic icy shower on the cover, this is a CD that is unlikely to go unnoticed on the shelves. With a good recital disc, the programme is half the battle, and in that respect Sabata has played an absolute blinder. He opens with a real find in the form of a classic ‘nemesis-aria’ from Orlandini’s Adelaide. Sabata has one of the richest, darkest countertenor voices on the circuit. Blessed with a splendid legato,…

July 7, 2017