Petibon

Rosso, soprano Patricia Petitbon's collection of Italian Baroque opera arias, may well be one of the most fun Baroque vocal recitals a listener is likely to encounter because Petitbon is so obviously having the time of her life. The arias, some familiar and some genuine rarities, from operas and oratorios by Handel, Vivaldi, Alessandro Scarlatti, Stradella, Porpora, and Sartorio, express a broad range of emotion, including overwhelming grief, delight and wonder, seductive innuendo, and explosive rage. Petitbon, a spectacular singing actress, throws herself into them with such unselfconscious abandon and such interpretive insight that the listener, even without looking at the texts, is left with no doubt about the specific, sometimes evolving, emotional states of the characters.

This is a mixed bag, but it is a mixture of wonderful stuff put together with considerable expertise. Marc-Antoine Charpentier was a major composer of the French Baroque, served at the Sainte-Chappelle in Paris, and wrote much music of solemnity and grandeur, but was also principal composer for the Comedie Française where he wrote music of a lighter nature. What we get here is mainly the latter, more directly entertaining Charpentier, and we get it in the forms of airs serieux, which are refined songs intended for court circles, and airs a boire, in a more popular style.

When the historic Theatre du Chatelet in Paris re-opened after a period of extensive refurbishment, the first two productions mounted in the theatre were Gluck’s Alceste and Orphée et Eurydice. Both operas were sung in their French versions and were mounted and designed by Robert Wilson and conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. This was the first time Wilson and Gardiner had collaborated and their individual credentials combined to produce an exceptional result.

Charpentier (1643-1704) is best known for his religious works and the opera "Medée". He also wrote a number of chamber music works (instrumental and vocal) of which three were released on CD. "Les plaisiers de Versailles H.480" is described as an opera-like divertimento. Actually an opera with only one act that takes about half an hour. This work was intended for performance in Versailles within the palace to entertain the king. "Airs sur les stances du cid H.457-459" are three 'airs sérieux', songs for solo voice with basso continuo accompaniment. These airs are set on texts from Corneille's drama "Le cid". "Amor vince ogni cosa H.492" is a dramatic pastoral; a small cantata with a pastoral character for five voices that mainly function as a shepherd's chorus and comment on the events. They have not inherited their own character yet. The accompaniment is Italian as well: two violins and basso continuo. Of course, the love between shepherds and shepherdesses plays the most important role, assisted by Pan, god of the shepherds.

Stefano Landi, who was Monteverdi's junior by about 20 years, was active in Rome, whereas Monteverdi was based in Venice. Landi spent two formative years in Venice, though, and absorbed the progressive musical ideas of Monteverdi and other seconda prattica composers. That contact would explain why Il Sant'Alessio (1632) sounds like a Monteverdi opera. Its expressive recitatives, melodically gratifying set pieces, mixture of serious and comic elements, and the complex psychology of its characters make it a piece that should appeal to opera fans who love L'incoronazione di Poppea.

Nous ne sommes pas certains que les spectateurs de l’Opéra de Zurich aient éprouvé tout à fait le même plaisir que nous à la vue de cette production de Jonathan Miller. Car la réussite de cette captation doit beaucoup au travail de la réalisatrice vidéo Chloé Perlemuter qui, avec un dispositif volontairement réduit, a décidé d’épouser le regard du spectateur, furtif, parfois inquisiteur et parfois distrait. Quelques regards sur les chanteurs en coulisses, des cadrages audacieux, rompent la monotonie d’un spectacle assez statique où l’investissement se lit presque exclusivement sur les visages, ce que soulignent parfaitement de pertinents gros plans. La captation offre donc au travail minimaliste et pudique de Jonathan Miller une profondeur supplémentaire, comme elle offre d’autres perspectives au décor d’une sobriété monacale d’Isabella Bywater, également signataires de costumes chatoyants qui nous renvoient directement au siècle des Lumières.

"Described as an Opera-Ballet in four Acts, Les Indes Galantes was Rameau's biggest stage success in his own lifetime, and one can understand why from this spectacular production, staged at the Paris Opéra in 2004. The director, Andrei Serban, presents the piece with the sort of lavish effects and movement that would have delighted 18th-century audiences…Outstanding among the soloists are Nathan Berg as Huascar…Anna Maria Panzarella as Emilie and Paul Agnew as Valere, with Joao Fernandez memorably in drag as Bellone. The final curtain brings an exuberant encore after the credits, with Christie hilariously joining in the dance.

Mozart was just 14 years old when he composed Mitridate, re di Ponto, a noble opera seria based on a play by Racine. A great success at its premiere, it is only rarely staged today, so this 2016 performance, led by Emmanuelle Haïm at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs Elysées, was by definition a special occasion. The dazzlingly virtuosic cast is led by tenor Michael Spyres and sopranos Patricia Petibon and Sabine Devieilhe, while the intense modern staging is by Clément Hervieu-Léger, a resident director at France’s most illustrious theatre company, the Comédie Française.

The myth of Orpheus–the divine musician who went to Hades to rescue his bride Eurydice from the dead and whose song actually persuaded Pluto to release her–has been irresistible to operatic composers from Monteverdi to Offenbach. One of the happiest rediscoveries of the Baroque revival is this lovely one-act chamber opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, which combines the gentle lilt typical of French Baroque music with the beautiful melodies and delicious suspensions in which Charpentier excelled. Charpentier diverged from the myth in one important respect: he omitted the tragic ending in which Orpheus loses Eurydice a second time, instead allowing the couple to live happily ever after.

This delightful "dramma eroicomico" ("heroic-comic drama"–-a made-up phrase brimming with irony) tells the story of the noble knight Orlando, who goes mad being torn between duty and love, his love, Angelica, who actually wants Medoro, and Alcina, an evil sorceress out to get Orlando, and turns it into a type of farce, with great results. There is some lovely music, mostly for Angelica and Medoro, but most of it is fun and light, with characters whistling, trying to impress people with how well they sing, etc. The scoring wittily underlines their foibles.