Alberto Ponticello

Antwerp's Opera Vlaanderen continues its Rossini opera cycle with this production of his rarely performed Armida, conducted by Alberto Zedda. The work features no less than four tenors in the leading roles, taken here by the commanding voices of Enea Scala, Robert McPherson, Dario Schmunck and the young rising star, Adam Smith.
Stage director Mariame Clément teams up once more for Opera Vlaanderen with set designer Julia Hansen, building on their successful production of Cavalli's Il Giasone. Here they take a critical look at the world of the Crusades. Clément sees Armida as the incarnation of the magical concept of ‘love’, for which noble and heroic knightly ideals are cast aside, turning love into a destructive frenzy.

La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) marked a culmination of the convergence of serious and comic elements in Rossini’s work. The result is an ideal hybrid: a tragic opera with a happy ending that rises to the status of true opera seria. With its outstanding dramatic and musical qualities it remains one of Rossini’s greatest and most successful operas, a constant presence in the repertoire since its triumphant 1817 première in Milan. This performance is conducted by Alberto Zedda, who made his conducting début in 1956, produced the first critical edition of La gazza ladra, and is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the operas of Rossini.

Longtime Pedro Almodóvar collaborator Alberto Iglesias composed the sad and gentle soundtrack to Talk to Her, the Spanish director's 2002 meditation on loss and loneliness. Aside from the violin and guitar-accented score, there are five vocal tracks sprinkled throughout, most notably "Cucurrucucú Paloma," which is performed by Tropicalia legend Caetano Veloso (who also sings it in the movie). Almodóvar has described this rendition, which he first heard live in Brazil while in support of 1995's The Flower of My Secret, as "stylized, heart-rending, and intimate." Another highlight is the lovely flamenco-style track "Raquel," from Cape Verdean string player Bau (Rufino Almeida), who leads the band that has backed Césaria Évora for the a number of years (and is featured prominently in the film's trailers). The prolific Iglesias, who has won several Goya Awards for his film work, has also composed for all of Basque director Julio Medem's films, from 1991's Vacas through 2001's Sex and Lucia.

On the transition of renaissance and early baroque this music is a synthesis of the polyphonic instrumental music for 2 (instrumental) choirs as developed in Venice. The symphoniae already have a basso continuo, but are polyphonic composed for 2 choirs. Alberto Rasi, with Academis Strumentale and two other consorts has understood the basis of the music perfectly. His approach is to render the canzonas in accordance with the style of late renaissance instrumental dance music, using contempory instruments.

Following the recent, essential compendium of great organ music on 50CD (95310), Brilliant Classics turn to a valuable but lesser-known light in the early history of the organ, Giovanni Salvatore. Active in the middle of the 17th century, this Neapolitan musician was greatly esteemed during his lifetime. One contemporary commentator even placed him above Frescobaldi on the grounds that he could compose fine vocal works without confusing their style with organ music.

Tancredi, which was based on Tasso’s epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata and was first heard in 1813, is most widely remembered for its overture, but this excellent Naxos set makes a strong case for the piece. It completely displaces the previous versions from Sony and RCA, and the eminent Rossini scholar and conductor, Alberto Zedda, proves a far more resilient, generally brisker and lighter Rossini interpreter than his predecessors. Sumi Jo is superb as the heroine, Amenaide, in dazzlingly clear coloratura, as well as imaginative pointing of phrase, rhythm and words.