Cecilia Bartoli: Sacrificium

Description

Product Description "The age of the castratos was one of the most dazzling and remarkable in European music history. Seldom has there ever been such a complete fusion of sensuousness and splendor, form and content, poetry and music, and, above all, such a perfection of vocal virtuosity, as was achieved in the glory days of the Baroque era. The legendary art of the castratos continues to exert its fascination even today, and despite the great human sacrifice it exacted, a new assessment of this extraordinary period is surely justified." - Cecilia Bartoli Cecilia Bartoli uncovers the extraordinary and cruel world of the `Castrati' and sings the glorious music they inspired. The all-new album consists almost entirely of world-premiere recordings of some of the most virtuosic music ever written for the human voice. The arias on the album are drawn from the works of Nicola Porpora (1686-1768), Antonio Caldara (c. 1670-1736), Francesco Araia (1709-1770), Carl Heinrich Graun (c. 1703-1759), Leonardo Leo (1694-1744), Leonardo Vinci (1696-1730), Riccardo Brosc hi (c. 1658-1756) and Geminiano Giacomello (c. 1692- 1740). After extensive research Bartoli has produced not only a new recording, but also a comprehensive study of the castrati and their time period through two lavishly produced and illustrated articles included in the deluxe package. Sacrificium marks the first collaboration of Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini, and Bartoli since their Grammy® Award-winning The Vivaldi Album ten years ago. This deluxe package is a hardback book (12 x 14 cm) including 2 CDs of music including 11 world-premiere recordings. The extensive booklet includes two essays on the castrati: "Evviva il coltellino!" ("Long live the the little knife") & "Castrato Compendium" (a 108-page "A-Z" of the castrati). The entire project features lavish illustrations and photos throughout along with an additional 44-page libretto. About the Artist For more than two decades, Cecilia Bartoli has undeniably been one of the leading artists in the field of classical music. All over the world, her new operatic roles, her concert programs and recording projects - in exclusivity with Decca - are expected with great eagerness and curiosity. The exceptional amount of 6 million CDs sold, more than 200 weeks ranking in the international pop charts, numerous Golden Discs, 4 Grammys (USA), 7 Echos and a Bambi (Germany), two Classical Brit Awards (UK), the Victoire de la Musique (France) and many other prestigious awards reflect the immense success of her solo albums "Vivaldi", "Gluck", "Salieri" and "Opera proibita" and that she is firmly established as today's "best selling classical artist". Thus, Cecilia Bartoli brings Classical Music close to the hearts of millions of people throughout the world. Apart from that, she is proud that through their popularity, her projects have caused a wide-spread re-evaluation and rediscovery of the neglected composers and forgotten repertoire which she puts up for discussion. It is not surprising that Herbert von Karajan, Daniel Barenboim and Nikolaus Harnoncourt were among the first conductors Cecilia Bartoli worked with. They noticed her talent at a very early stage when she had barely completed her vocal studies with her parents in her home-town Rome. Since then, many further conductors, pianists and orchestras of highest renown have been her regular partners. In recent years, her work has begun to focus on collaborations with the most significant period instrument orchestras (Akademie für Alte Musik, Les Arts Florissants, Concentus Musicus Wien, Freiburger Barockorchester, Il Giardino Armonico, Kammerorchester Basel, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestra La Scintilla). Projects with orchestras where Cecilia Bartoli assumes the overall artistic responsibility have become increasingly important to her and were crowned by the jointly developed and performed programmes with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Cecilia Bartoli regularly sings in the most important concert halls in Europe, the United States and Japan. Her stage appearances include prestigious opera houses and festivals such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Salzburg Festival and the Zürich Opera House, where she has presented many of her operatic roles for the first time. Most recently, her roles have included Rossini's Fiorilla in "Il Turco in Italia" at Covent Garden and two Handelian heroines, Cleopatra (in "Giulio Cesare" with Marc Minkowski) and Semele (with William Christie) in Zurich. In 2007/08 Cecilia Bartoli devotes her time to the early 19th century - the era of Italian Romanticism and Belcanto - and especially the legendary singer Maria Malibran. Her 200th birthday on 24th March 2008 was marked by a historical day in Malibran's birthplace Paris: Cecilia Bartoli sang 3 concerts in one day as the centre-piece of a Malibran-Marathon at Salle Pleyel - collaborating with Lang Lang, Vadim Repin, Adam Fischer and Myung-Whun Chung - while the City of Paris showed her Barcelona Concert on a big screen outside the Hôtel de Ville, where Cecilia Bartoli's mobile Malibran Museum was stationed to honour that special day. Further bicentenary events were the CD "Maria", the DVD "The Barcelona Concert/Malibran Rediscovered", extensive concert tours as well as operatic appearances as Cenerentola, Sonnambula and Halevy's Clari - in a Malibran-opera which had not been performed since 1829. Cecilia Bartoli has been endowed with the Italian Knighthood and is an "Accademico effettivo" of Santa Cecilia, Rome, a French "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" and an "Honorary Member" of the Royal Academy of Music, London. Review: PREMIERE RECORDINGS WITH A FOCUS ON FARINELLI AND CAFARELLI - If you are a Bartoli devotee, and/or a lover of music written for the castrato voice, this album is for you. Me... I'm not a great lover of the sound of Cecilia Bartoli nor of Il Giardino Armonico on `every' track, BUT the CD is still a MUST HAVE. On a couple of tracks the playing seems too `full-blown'... and if I could find one word to express what I least like about Bartoli's singing it is her 'earnestness'... a tendency for the frenetic, overdone, and as another reviewer wrote "her trademarked enthusiasm (sometimes too much of a good thing)"... but this is personal, since I concede Bartoli has great range and coloratura skill etc etc. Much of the music on this disc was originally sung by the castrati stars Farinelli (7 arias) and Cafarelli (3 Porpora arias... Porpora was his teacher): there are two arias composed by Carl Heinrich Graun (from "Demofoonte" 1746, and "Adriano in Siria" 1746) performed by Porpora's pupils Salimbeni and Porporino. The arias are wonderful, ranging from `rage' and `heroic' arias with plenty of fireworks and vocal leaps, `simile' arias mimicking butterflies and nightingales, to reflective, introspective laments or prayers. There are many highlights on the album, include the beautifully expressive farewell aria "Parto, ti lascio, o cara" from Porpora's "Germanico in Germania." Exceptionally, all but one of the 12 arias on the disc are world premiere recordings. That exception is "Nobil onda" from Nicola Porpora's "Adelaide" 1723. Bartoli was pipped at the post by Karina Gauvin's recent album "Porpora Arias". Incidentally, this is another valuable album (A MUST HAVE) as it too has many premiere recordings. It also helps to express my earlier point about the sound of Il Giardino Armonico... a sound I think is occasionally too harsh, full, and heavily instrumental. Il Complesso Barocco's introduction in "Nobil onda" with harpsichord seems to rest more easily with these ears of mine!!! These world premieres, and the focus on different composers but largely two singers, makes it a tight, well thought out and well-researched album. The `book' and `sleeve' (rather than jewel case) format house the CDs, so it's a nice presentation, and the information and index/dictionary included are a useful though not academic read. As others note, there are 2 CDs. The second CD includes 3 `exemplary' arias by Riccardo Broschi, Haendel, and Giacomelli, originally sung by Farinelli and Cafarelli. In the case of Haendel's "Ombra mai fu," this aria has been covered by almost everyone! Why not make it a proper double album with more premiere arias?... it would have been a magnificent opportunity! P.S. For those interested in Farinelli, don't look past Vivica Genaux's "Arias for Farinelli." She has an amazing, unique mezzo soprano sound. For music sung by Farinelli at the end of his career, also have a listen to Max Emanuel Cencic's "Domenico Scarlatti: Cantate d'amour" and "Domenico Scarlatti: Cantatas," both put out by Capriccio. The music by D. Scarlatti was written at the end of his career, 1740s. Farinelli sung these at the Spanish court, having arrived there in 1737. It is thought that many of the texts in these cantatas were penned by Metastasio, and written especially for Farinelli. Cencic is a countertenor, though he considers himself a mezzo-soprano. He has a wonderful voice with much depth, and though not full of pyrotechnics (Farinelli was then in his 40s) the cantatas on both albums are very rich and expressive. Total different sound to Bartoli's album of course, just thought it was worth mentioning if you are exploring other albums! Review: You'll love it if you love this sort of thing - I resisted buying Cecilia Bartoli's recording entitled Sacrificium but gave in after reading the raves on this and other review sites. I'm glad I did. Sacrificium is a compilation of highly ornamented baroque arias composed by lesser known lights of the 17th and 18th centuries. Bartoli is an amazing singer and there is no gainsaying her spectacular vocal technique, musical taste and intelligence. A trait of her singing that I never liked was that machine-gun popping she often makes in fast passages, a trait that is not in evidence here. The florid stuff is spectacularly performed, the more gentle and lyrical arias are quite beautifully phrased and vocalized. Initially I resisted this cd because I found the cover art to be in execrably bad taste, reminding me of some of Michael Jackson's more androgynous glossies. This album was released not too long after Michael Jackson had died. The combination of the two events was disturbing and I vowed not to succumb to this musical circus act, as it then seemed to me. The graphic and morbid display of the instruments of castration and the paintings from the day in the huge booklet (this is the limited edition) are a bit much, especially as they are clothed in the light of pitying regret on the part of the commentators in the album notes. We can't possibly imagine why people did what they did hundreds of years ago, any more than we can fathom why people do what they do right now. I have often wandered in society and wondered if castration might be a viable solution to most of our social problems. But that's an argument for another place. These album notes are still some of the most concise and interesting reading I've ever run across in a recording. Why don't Decca and the other major labels take the time and trouble to do this with all their products? They should limit the ceaseless flow of mediocre audio and filmed performances and turn out top quality products like Sacrificium. If you are like me, not a die-hard Ceci fan but appreciate truly great and masterful singing of never-before-heard or recorded music, then I highly recommend this album. It is Bartoli at her very pinnacle and is tremendously enjoyable.