Concerto Koln

Diana Moore lends her youth and tight vibrato to Rinaldo; a greater vocal presence should come with the experience. Cyndia Sieden is an ideal Almirena, as well as Dominique Labelle in the often poorly served and yet essential role of the magician Armida. Andnew Foster-Williams and Cecile van de Sant excel and carry Argante and Goffredo to a rare level of emotion for one and dramatic consistency for the other. The counter-tenor Chnistophe Dumaux is a perfect Eustazio. Finally, under the lively, dramatic and witty direction of Nicholas McGegan, the Concerto Köln is simply phenomenal.

Concerto Köln – the silver-toned Rolls-Royce of period ensembles – handles this journey with suave style and flawless control…Valer Sabadus makes for a refined Farinelli, and where his smoky voice lacks in power, it gains in agility. He breezes through the coloratura arias, with their virtuoso roulades and vertiginous leaps…He really shines, though, in the more intimate arias.

German baritone Benjamin Appl is Gramophone's "Young Artist of the Year 2016" and one of the stars of the European "Echo Rising Stars" concert series. He is also a former chorister of the famous German choir Regensburger Domspatzen, and now one of the most interesting artists of the new generation, with a great voice, charming personality and great stage presence. The new album presents wonderful music by Johann Sebastian Bach from famous as well as less known cantatas but also from the St. Matthew Passion. It was recorded with the renowned Ensemble Concerto Köln, one of the leading ensembles for historically-informed performance practice.

Saul is one of Handel's most action-filled, fast-moving oratorios; an opera in everything but name only. It has been lucky on disc–both Paul McCreesh (Archiv) and John Eliot Gardiner (Philips) have led superb readings, and Joachim Carlos Martini leads a good performance on Naxos, which is a bargain. Now René Jacobs and his remarkable Concerto Köln come along and offer a truly majestic reading, filled with real drama and beautiful, precise singing and playing. Tenor Jeremy Ovenden sings Jonathan with nobility and faces down Saul in Act II with style and power. David is sung by countertenor Lawrence Zazzo, and he's as good as the best-recorded competition (Andreas Scholl, Derek Lee Ragin). Emma Bell is ravishing as Merab; Rosemary Joshua makes a fine Joshua.

German baritone Benjamin Appl is Gramophone's "Young Artist of the Year 2016" and one of the stars of the European "Echo Rising Stars" concert series. He is also a former chorister of the famous German choir Regensburger Domspatzen, and now one of the most interesting artists of the new generation, with a great voice, charming personality and great stage presence. The new album presents wonderful music by Johann Sebastian Bach from famous as well as less known cantatas but also from the St. Matthew Passion. It was recorded with the renowned Ensemble Concerto Köln, one of the leading ensembles for historically-informed performance practice.

Carmignola’s fiery and successful “Vivaldi con moto” is followed by a more subtle and traditional Bach Concerto recording, a Co-Production between Deutsche Grammophon and Deutschlandfunk. Carmignola and Concerto Koln bring new and outstanding colors into this often recorded repertoire, and their temperamental performance introduces a sparkling and thrilling interpretation of Bach’s concertos. Carmignola is a unique artist and one of today’s most charismatic and captivating violinists, prompting The Strad to say “Timing is everything, and Carmignola has the timing of Sinatra. Rubato, portamento, pauses, tight-rope showmanship.” For the Double Concerto, Carmignola is joined by Mayumi Hirasaki on the first violin.

Simon Mayr is mostly remembered as Donizetti’s teacher, but as recent recordings of his sacred music reveal, there is more to him than that; more, even, than the 70 operas he produced over his long career in his adopted Italy. According to expert Franz Hauk’s liner notes, Mayr produced in all some 600 sacred compositions; many of these are individual mass movements but they also included 18 complete masses.

When this set appeared it pushed all the other recorded versions of Giulio Cesare aside, and now, examining it again and even finding some things to argue with, it maintains that supreme position. The opera is given complete and all the roles are sung in their original octaves (no bass-baritone Caesar, for instance). René Jacobs' tempos are ideal for each dramatic situation, and if the recitatives have a formality that slows them down somewhat, well, we are dealing with Caesar, Cleopatra, and very grand historic deeds. Both orchestra and singers embellish their written lines, and from this vantage point, those embellishments seem very tame–but they're still welcome, highly musical, and apt.

This selection of scenes and arias, all very familiar items, is distinguished by the imaginative accompaniments under Evelino Pidò. …here we have one of the great opera personalities of our time - it's a lovely voice, used with a formidable technique.