Il Pomo d'Oro / Andrea De Carlo ALESSANDRO STRADELLA La Doriclea

Alessandro Stradella’s place in the annals of the history of music is not only due to the adventurous circumstances that marked his brief existence, but also to the reputation as an opera composer he has acquired since the 18th century. Inaccessible for many decades to specialists and scholars, La Doriclea is definitely the least known of all Stradella’s operas. However, it constitutes a particularly significant chapter in his overall output: composed in Rome during the early 1670s, to our knowledge La Doriclea represents the first opera entirely composed by Stradella. From the dramatic point of view, La Doriclea belongs to the comedy of intrigue genre typical of the 17th century Spanish theatre tradition. Refined and amusing, it alternates touching lamentos with irresistibly comic scenes, in which the character of Giraldo, a veritable precursor of the basso buffo, allows us to glimpse Rossinian atmospheres. Emöke Baráth (Doriclea) and Xavier Sabata (Fidalbo) alongside Giuseppina Bridelli (Lucinda) and Luca Cervoni (Celindo) and the comic couple of Delfina (Gabriella Martellacci) and Giraldo (Riccardo Novaro) bring a complex and fascinating role-playing game to life. This world premiere release of La Doriclea is a major achievement for The Stradella Project, which here reaches its fifth volume. “Through his festival and recording project, Andrea De Carlo is raising the profile of this pioneering Italian composer.” (Gramophone)

Cappella Neapolitana / Antonio Florio GAETANO VENEZIANO Passio

Antonio Florio has discovered and prepared a performing edition – for Glossa’s new Passio release – of the 1685 St John Passion setting by the Neapolitan composer Gaetano Veneziano, which features countertenor Raffaele Pe in the technically demanding role of the Evangelist.

Until recently, Italian Passiontide settings from the Baroque era have been thought to amount to just the one, that by Alessandro Scarlatti, but the score by Veneziano – who was a contemporary of Scarlatti, a maestro in the royal chapel as well as a favoured pupil of Francesco Provenzale – has been located in the Archivio dell’Oratorio dei Girolamini in Naples, and displays a surprising blending of modernity and an older style in its instrumental accompaniment (here provided by Florio’s Cappella Neapolitana). Moreover, it provides an extrovert and atmospheric response to the Gospel text for the roles of Christ (taken by tenor Luca Cervoni) and Pilate (the bass Marco Bussi) as well as for the interventions of the crowd (sung here by the Ghislieri Choir).

Having already done much to revive the name of Gaetano Veneziano, through his recording of the later oratorio, La Santissima Trinità, as well as through discs with other sacred music, Antonio Florio has now created a further fascinating release of Baroque Italian music from Naples, and one which benefits from a typically absorbing booklet essay from Dinko Fabris. (GLOSSA)