Prince of Valor

Teuzzone is an early opera, written in 1719, only five years after Vivaldi's first venture into the field. His developing skill as an opera composer is evident in the music's vivid delineation of the characters and their moods. There isn't much of a dramatic arc to the music of the three acts, but for the listener willing to forego that expectation, the individual moments are wonderfully effective and engaging. The libretto features the standard late Baroque operatic themes of thwarted romance and court intrigue, but it takes place in China, perhaps the first libretto to be set in the Far East. Jordi Savall had led Le Concert des Nations in one previous Vivaldi opera, Farnace, recorded live in 2001. In this 2011 studio recording, the sound quality is considerably better, and the performances are consistently superb.

Hyperion’s Record of the Month sees the long overdue return to the studio of The King’s Consort, under the baton of the group’s newly appointed Artistic Director Matthew Halls. Here the ensemble presents the premiere recording of Handel’s Parnasso in Festa: a unique example in Handel’s enormous creative career of a fully-fledged celebratory serenata (or Festa teatrale). This form was rare in England but had developed in parallel with opera in Italy, where it was popular for commemorating special occasions of international significance. Parnasso in Festa was written for Princess Anne’s marriage to Prince William of Orange.

When in 2003 the 250th anniversary of the Residenz-Theater in Munich was to celebrated, it was decided to perform the same opera which was performed at the opening of the theatre in 1753: Catone in Utica by Giovanni Battista Ferrandini. That was a bold decision, as Ferrandini is not exactly a household name in our time. He isn't a completely unknown quantity, though; his lamento 'Pianto di Madonna' was once attributed to Handel. It is perhaps due to this misattribution that it was ever recorded.

Andrea Marcon and La Cetra Barockorchester & Vokalensemble Basel sparkle in this new release of Handel's forgotten masterpiece Parnasso in testa, recorded shortly before their hugely successful Netherlands premiere of the opera in November 2016.