Gluck, Orfeo & Euridice

Venezuelan sopranista Samuel Mariño presents his debut album Sopranista, showcasing his unique, delicate voice. Featuring beautiful Mozart & Gluck aria favourites written for castrati of the 18th century, many heard here recorded by a man for the first time along with world premieres and rarities by Cimarosa and Bologne, Chevalier de St-Georges.

Compact disc buyers who purchased Andreas Scholl's disc of Handel arias on Harmonia Mundi barely a month before HEROES was released may wonder why they might need the present recital, with its further helping of Handel. One listen will stop the wondering! The key is the non-Handel portion of the program. That Scholl is excellent in baroque music is well-established by his recordings for Harmonia Mundi. But with selections by Hasse, Gluck, and a young Mozart, he demonstrates his talent for later music as well.

This is a stunning album for fans of Gluck, Janet Baker or just opera in general. 13 glorious arias from 7 of Gluck's operas comprise an album you'll not neglect to listen to repeatedly! Sung in French and Italian, mezzo-soprano Janet Baker gives an unforgettable performance. Divinities Of The Styx from Alceste delights the ear and is a great highlight on this album. Also the opener "The Perfidious Renaud Eludes Me" from Armide also is not to be missed. Raymond Leppard and the English Chamber Orchestra are top notch too.

There is definitely no lack of heroic roles in the Gluckian repertory apart from the very well-known Orfeo from Orfeo ed Euridice: many memorable parts were assigned by this composer for the alto voice (either male castratos or female contraltos) - and it is precisely this repertory, written for excellent interpreters and yet still rarely performed today, which is celebrated on this album. As a consequence of a specific historical set of circumstances, Gluck had the good fortune to work with the finest alto singers of his generation: not only Gaetano Guadagni, but also Giovanni Carestini, Vittoria Tesi and many others.

The Classical Opera Company was founded in 1997 by conductor Ian Page. It specialises in the music of Mozart and his contemporaries, performing with its own period-instrument orchestra, and is emerging as one of Britains most exciting and highly regarded young arts organisations. It has attracted considerable critical and public acclaim, not only for the high quality of its performances but also for its imaginative programming and, in particular, its ability to discover and nurture outstanding young singers.

On May 14, 1763, Bologna’s Teatro Comunale opened with the world premiere of Il trionfo di Clelia. Completed a year after Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck’s setting of Metastasio’s story of romantic fidelity put to the test against the background of the Siege of Rome, was tailored both to display the new theatre’s capacity for spectacle (Act II calls for the collapse of a bridge and a heroic swim across the rising waters of the Tiber) and a cast hand-picked for their fioritura (embellishment of a melodic line). Thus while musicologists may cherish Il trionfo di Clelia for its pivotal role in the composer’s progress from the gilded cage of opera seria to the grand austerity of his reform operas, the rest of us can enjoy an inventive score.

Gardiner illuminates Alceste's subtle colors and inflections, assisted by von Otter, whose perceptive performance as Alceste is one of emotional sincerity and spot-on vocal accuracy. Despite being a watershed between baroque and classical opera - and a major influence on Mozart, Berlioz and even Wagner -Gluck (1714-87) is still best known today for one opera. Orfeo ed Euridice might be a masterpiece but it's one that has tended to overshadow his other fine achievements.

The most popular opera of Gluck might be Orfeo ed Euridice, but this one, Iphigénie en Tauride, is probably his most dramatically involving. It is about familial love and deep friendship and, as such, lacks the usual "love" music and interest. But the waters here run deep, and Martin Pearlman and his singers plumb those depths. Christine Goerke's Iphigénie is dignified, rich with expression and beautiful tone. Almost no less good is the Orestes of Rodney Gilfry, who uses his high baritone with intelligence and ease, singing tenderly when needed and explosively at other times. Vinson Cole brings grainy, expressive tenor to the role of Pylades firmly and effectively; and Stephen Salters, as the villainous Thaos, might sing coarsely, but it suits the character.

After the wars with the Ottoman Empire, the Turks – their dress, manners, and music-fascinated 18th century Europe, and poking fun at them became standard fare in Parisian vaudevilles. Gluck picked up the theme in 1761 after he became conductor of the French Opera in Vienna, using a translated French libretto by P.R. Monnier that had already been set to music by Monsigny. La Cadi Dupée ("The Duped Cadi") was believed lost until it was rediscovered in the archives of the Hamburg State Opera by the producer of this recording. The central character is a Cadi (a Muslim judge) who wants to marry the reluctant Zelmire, to the dismay of his wife Fatime. Zelmire, in love with Nuradin, pretends to be Omega, the unattractive daughter of the dyer Omar; after the marriage contract is signed and Omega appears, the Cadi has to buy his way out of the imbroglio and return contritely to Fatime while Zelmire and Nuradin go off happily.

Christoph Willibald Gluck was severely annoyed. He was now 60, and still had to deal with the same annoyances he had for decades: the turbulent life at the Paris Opera, for which he was always writing new stage works, the many rehearsals with petulant divas, the orchestra musicians, with whom Gluck was rarely satisfied. According to contemporary witnesses, he had to retire to the sickbed for a while due to exhaustion. Here he dreamt up a dream world: an opera radically freed of ballast, without ballet, without a large chorus, with only a few performers and a greatly reduced orchestra.