Product description
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This new release in Nave's accled Vivaldi Edition is
dedicated to forgotten opera arias. Some of these arias were lost
in the 18th century and have been found in manuscripts from
Vivaldi's personal collection held in Turin. This includes two
arias from Scanderbeg, an opera composed by Vivaldi in 1718. The
opera itself has been lost and the pieces featured on this new CD
are the only ones that remain from this work. The second part of
the disc is made up of arias that are well-known but are
performed here in different versions. They are taken from
"Orlando furioso", "Tito Manlio" and "La Verit in Cimento". The
release also includes two string concertos which feature the
outstanding violinist Stefano Montanari who has himself appeared
with great success on previous s in the Vivaldi Edition.
The Accademia Bizantina, an orchestra speing in 17th and
18th century repertoire played on original instruments, has been
directed by the harpsichordist Ottavio Dantone since 1996. In
that time the group has risen to become one of the most highly
regarded period orchestras today, bringing fresh energy and
creativity to the interpretation of Baroque music. Contralto
Sonia Prina is a highly regarded interpreter of early opera and
has in recent years been Clarice in Rossini's La pietra di
paragone at the Thtre du Chtelet, and performed the title role in
Handel's Rinaldo at La Scala Milan under the direction of Ottavio
Dantone. Personnel: Accademia Bizantina, Ottavio Dantone
(director), Sonia Prina (contralto), Stefano Montanari (violin)
Review
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Part of the fun of following developments in Baroque music is
that, while the press is reduced to trying to work up excitement
for the merest scrap of music potentially by Mozart or Beethoven,
unknown masterpieces by the likes of Vivaldi are still surfacing
with regularity. This release by the energetic French label Naïve
(check out the wild cover photo, apparently of contralto Sonia
Prina) is a case in point. Conductor Ottavio Dantone and his
Accademia Bizantina ensemble, prime exponents of the rocking and
rolling school of Italian Baroque interpreters, here uncover a
dozen arias drawn from little-known Vivaldi manuscripts, or
inserted as alternate numbers into existing operas. These Arie
ritrovate, or rediscovered arias, are anything but a completist
grab bag of odds and ends. There are some bona fide masterpieces
here (as indeed there are all through the still largely unmined
corpus of Vivaldian opera), and plenty of music to challenge any
singer. Prina's voice has an extremely attractive combination of
power with a sort of woodwind quality; sample and enjoy. And hear
what she can do in the flat-out careering virtuosity of "Per
lacerarlo," an alternate aria from Teuzzone, or, by contrast, the
emotional indecision and ambiguity of "Vedi le mie catene" from
the same opera. The latter is the only work on the album possibly
not by Vivaldi, but it's remarkable whoever may have composed it.
A few pieces are reconstructions by Dantone and Frédéric Delaméa
of arias whose music has been lost, apparently working from
deductions that they represented contrafacta of arias with
metrically similar texts; one of the few complaints that might be
raised here is that it is not exactly clear how they reached
their conclusions. The music is at a uniformly high level,
however. The 12 arias are grouped into three sets of four,
separated by a pair of concertos delivered in Dantone's trademark
tumultuous style, and all in all this is as strong a collection
of Vivaldi music as has appeared anywhere, with the added bonus
that all the music is new. Notes and aria texts are in Italian,
French, and English. -- AllMusic.com, James Manheim, October 2008
This is an enjoyable collection of Vivaldian odds and ends. As
the holdings of the National University Library of Turin continue
to be explored, small and large discoveries are made. Among the
former, at least in size, are alternative arias from extant
operas, and isolated arias belonging to operas now otherwise
lost. A third type is comprised of arias from operas (or
"serenatas") put together by other hands from the works of
various composers, not just Vivaldi. Sometimes new words were
fitted to older music; musical detective work has made it
possible to reconstruct these arias from their texts even when
the music is no longer extant.
Scanderbeg e Ormondo, written in 1718, no longer exists except
for the two arias recorded here. Teuzzone, La verità in cimento,
Tito Manlio, and Orlando Furioso have been preserved (and all
recorded in toto), but the arias presented here are alternative
arias - stuck between the pages, if you will - that have not been
heard in three centuries. The Concerto for strings, RV 136, has
been included because of the thematic relationship between its
middle movement and the reconstructed aria Abbia respiro il cor.
What will matter to most people, though, is whether or not this
CD stands on its own, and it does, thanks in no small part to the
contributions of alto Sonia Prina. I first noticed Prina in a
wacky production from the Théâtre du Châtelet of Rossini's La
Pietra del Paragone, issued on DVD by Naïve. Prina's Imogene
Coca-like stage presence was married to a warm, chocolatey voice
that, despite its dark colors, was both agile and feminine. It's
only natural, then, that she should be a spet in the
Baroque repertoire, and this CD shows just how much she has to
offer. It can be hard to put across a collection of unconnected
arias, but Prina's vocal personality allows her to succeed where
others have failed, and the voice itself is flexible and
delicious. Stefano Montanari is no less virtuosic in the witty,
extraverted violin concerto that has been inserted in the middle
of this program. The microphones pick up his noisy breathing,
though - was it y season in Ravenna?
Dantone and the Accademia Bizantina, frequent participants in
this ongoing Vivaldi Edition from Naïve, accompany with
personality and sensitivity. As a matter of fact, Dantone, with
Frédéric Delaméa (who wrote the excellent booklet notes), is
responsible for the three reconstructions. Texts and translations
have been included. The engineering is clear and very .
-- Classical Net, Raymond Tuttle, October 2008
