Sfera Ebbasta Gelosi

Thomas Quasthoff’s great artistry needs no introduction. Here he follows up his much-raised Bach Cantatas recording with another project perfectly suited to his dark-hued, flexible voice. In anticipation of the forthcoming Haydn year – the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death falls in May 2009 – Quasthoff turns his attention to the Viennese master’s considerable operatic output, with an album of arias drawn from both Haydn’s comic and serious operas.

Between Die Entführung aus dem Serail and the advent of the famous ‘Da Ponte trilogy’, Mozart threw himself frantically into the search for the right libretto, capable of taking the spectator to lands still unexplored where the drama and the psychology of the characters would be sublimated by the music. Hence, in the years between 1782 and 1786, he set up a veritable laboratory for dramatic music: a musical corpus of concert arias, sketches, and stylistic exercises like the canon – here brilliantly organised as an imaginary dramma giocoso in three scenes, each heralding in its own way one of the summits to come: Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così.

Not much is known about Sebastiano Moratelli’s life, and his entire oeuvre, which is supposed to have included a number of operas and serenades, until recently was thought to have been lost. The rediscovery of the score of La “faretra smarrita” in the library of the Counts of Toerring-Jettenbach therefore amounts to a sensation. It finally allows us to form an impression of Moratelli’s compositional capabilities in their mature stage and of the “expressive power and naturalness” of his music so greatly esteemed by his contemporaries.

Moratelli, who came from Italy to Vienna before 1660, served as imperial chamber music director and music teacher to the Archduchess Anna Maria Josepha. On her marriage to Johann Wilhelm, Moratelli went along to Düsseldorf in 1679 and remained a member of the court there until his death.

Handel’s Ottone was one of the most popular operas of the composer’s career, with 34 known performances during his lifetime, beaten only by the 53 performances of Rinaldo. The premiere run in 1723 featured superstar Italian soloists including Senesino and Cuzzoni, and coincided with (and was perhaps the cause of) the height of London’s opera madness, with tickets changing hands for increasingly high prices on the black market. This recording of the 1723 version (Handel adapted the opera in later years for different singers) features James Bowman at the peak of his powers in the title role.

From Wikipedia:

Antonio Salieri (August 18, 1750 – May 7, 1825), born in Legnago, Italy, was a composer and conductor, as well as one of the most important and famous musicians of his time… (more inside)

Antonio Salieri is, unfortunately, best known as Mozart's great Viennese rival. Some of his work has appeared on recordings, and he was clearly an interesting composer of well-crafted, entertaining music. But now that a singer with the stature and prodigious gifts of Cecilia Bartoli has undertaken an entire CD of his opera arias, he may just become a quasi-household name. Here he proves himself a composer who wrote for virtuosos; Bartoli is nothing if not a vituoso. And, indeed, this CD opens with an impressive bang: An aria from La secchia rapita features a wild vocal line complete with wild coloratura, huge leaps, a range from low G to high D flat (Bartoli flirts more and more with the soprano range while using her chest register even more forcefully!), and vast dynamic changes accompanied by a full orchestra augmented with grand, martial trumpets.

With over 30 of Handel’s operas awaiting a first CD recording, it seems indecent luxury to find two splendid new recordings of Ottone, a work in the vanguard of the German Handel opera revival in the 1920s, but long since relegated to obscurity. Both benefit immensely by being based on stage performances, Nicholas McGegan’s from the Göttingen Handel Festival, of which he is artistic director, Robert King’s from a production that successfully toured the UK and Japan. Broadly speaking, McGegan’s reading is distinguished by a compelling sense of drama and a wonderful feeling for Handelian style, sometimes at the expense of tonal beauty; King’s is smoother, occasionally letting the dramatic impetus flag, but offering playing of consistent strength and fine shading.

Zu Antonio Salieris Schülern gehörten Beethoven, Schubert und Liszt. Er wurde als Wiener Hofkapellmeister bewundert. Und überhaupt galt Salieri zu seiner Zeit als einer der beliebtesten Opernkomponisten Europas. Doch nicht zuletzt dank des Kino-Hits »Amadeus« von Milos Forman verbindet mit man seinem Namen die abenteuerliche Geschichte, er hätte Mozart vergiftet. Dabei schätzten sich Mozart und Salieri. Zudem war Mozart gar von Salieris Oper »La Fiera di Venezia« derart begeistert, dass er 1773 Klaviervariationen über ein Duett aus dem II. Akt komponierte. Dieses Duett »Mio caro Adone« bildet nun auch einen der vielen Höhepunkte in der Weltersteinspielung von Salieris komischer Oper »La Fiera di Venezia«.