Nemeth Designs

Savaria Baroque Orchestra under the artistic direction of Pál Németh have been among the leading interpreters of Baroque music in Europe for 25 years, and bassist Péter Fried can also look back on an impressive international career. The instrumentalists once again offer an excellent, stylistically adept, technically flawless performance, which is also characterized by the successful balance between the individual instruments.

Scarlatti composed his Stabat mater for the Neapolitan brotherhood of the Cavalieri della Vergine dei dolori. He scored it for two solo voices, soprano and mezzo-soprano with an orchestra of strings. The Stabat mater text prevented him from adopting the 'recitative-aria' patter of the cantata and so he alternated solo and duet numbers almost throughout, introducing two short arioso sections towards the conclusion of the work. scarlatti, like Pergolesi, shows remarkable resourcefulness in the achievement of variety within what, on the face of it, looks like a restricted pattern. Pergolesi, incidentally, composed his Stabat mater for the same Neapolitan brotherhood and must certainly have takne Scarlatti's setting as his model since the similarities are too numerous and too close to be merely accidental.

Deux oeuvres mineures de Scarlatti composent cet enregistrement, deux sérénades galantes mettant en scène l’une le triomphe de l’honnêteté sur Cupidon, l’autre Vénus et son fils l’Amour vantant ses victoires. Ersatz d’opéras, interdits par le pape À Rome lorsque Scarlatti est au service d’Ottoboni, mais sans vrai schéma dramatique, exportées sans grand succès à Naples comme Venere e Amore, ces compositions pour le plein air ou le théâtre privé sont charmantes mais d’un intérêt secondaire. Reste la curiosité au disque d’un volet du travail de Scarlatti peu connu.

The title “Overture Suites” stems from the stage tradition of the court of Louis XIV in which the overture for an opera, ballet, or play was followed by a set of dances. The term “overture” was applied to the whole grouping, though in actuality these are orchestral suites as we understand the term from J.S. Bach. Some of Telemann’s overture suites are delightful works that must have provided wonderful preparatory entertainment for the evening’s main event. The G major suite, whose title “La Putain” translates as “The Whore”, quotes from the song “It’s been so long since I’ve come to you”. Despite the bawdy name, the suite is filled with jaunty, lively melodies and inventive, characterful dances.

This the work was first given in Vienna during Holy Week, 1729, the first of many collaborations between Caldara and Metastasio. Mention of the great librettist provides a prompt that my original review failed to stress the outstanding qualities of the text. Divided into two halves, the first part of the oratorio relates the story of the crucifixion as witnessed through the eyes of Mary Magdalene, John, and Joseph of Arimathea, who respond to the eager questioning of the remorseful Peter. The second part consists of philosophical commentary on the meaning of the crucifixion. Particularly in Part I, Metastasio draws on vivid imagery to convey the full horror of the event. Here, for example, is John describing the nailing to the cross: "… and some hardened, loutish men, sweating as they worked, bathed his face with their foul perspiration."

Der Tod Jesu of Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–59), completed in 1755, was for decades the musical mainstay of Passiontide services (a position now held by Bach’s and St. John Passions), being performed by the Berlin Singakademie virtually every Good Friday until 1884. Unlike the passions of Bach, Schütz, and other predecessors, Graun’s work does not set any texts of Scripture. Instead, in line with burgeoning Enlightenment sensibilities, the entire libretto by Carl Wilhelm Ramler (1725–98) is written in the exalted style of impassioned poetic declamation common to opera libretti of the era, in supposed imitation of Greek tragedy. At less than half the length of the Bach passions, and musically far less complex, with dignified and attractive arias composed in a style somewhat akin to those of Handel’s Messiah , it remains winsome even today, and its enduring popularity is readily comprehended.

Pimpinone o Vespetta e Pimpinone-Intermezzo u ópera cómica en tres actos con música de Tomaso Albinoni y libreto en italiano de [Pietro Pariati]. Se estrenó en el Teatro San Cassiano Venecia 26 de noviembre 1708. Esta obrita pertenece a un género operístico propio del Barroco, Intermezzo , que se desarrollaba en los entreactos óperas serias. En este caso, se representó entre acto y acto de la ópera Astarto, dramma per musica en tres actos del mismo Tomaso Albinoni, con libreto de Apostolo Zeno y Pietro Pariati. Gozó de gran notoriedad en las tres décadas siguientes, representándose también fuera de Italia en lugares como Viena.

The St. John Passion was long regarded as an early work by Handel, written in Hamburg in 1704. It had to be early, as there are few really Handelian fingerprints in the music. In the late 1960s though, musicologists started allocating it to Georg Böhm (1661-1733), a Thuringian-born composer who worked in Hamburg and Luneburg. He is remembered chiefly for his fine organ music and his influence on Bach. But the record booklet makes an interesting case for Handel's authorship, particularly as Handel's friend Mattheson was an advocate of the work.

Hungarian conductor Pál Németh seems to be starting a series of larger-sacred works by Viennese composer Antonio Caldara. Coming on the heels of his Paschal work La passion di Gesù Cristo , likewise on Hungaroton, this particular oratorio features something that should resonate in Budapest, since it focuses on King Stephen, the country’s patron saint. Regardless of the subject matter, however, the work conforms to the typical Italian oratorio of the early 18th century, that is to say, a sacred mirror of the opera seria consisting of a series of da capo arias following recitatives.