Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri / Giulio Prandi NICCOLÒ JOMMELLI Requiem

REQUIEM

 

Raffaella Milanesi / Salvo Vitale / La Risonanza / Fabio Bonizzoni HANDEL Le Cantate per il Cardinal Ottoboni

In the third instalment in Fabio Bonizzoni’s survey of the secular cantatas with instrumental accompaniment composed by Georg Frideric Handel during his stay in Italy, come a quartet of works associated with the Venice-born maecenas Pietro Ottoboni – including the substantial Ero e Leandro, the libretto for which is plausibly considered to have been written by the Cardinal Ottoboni himself. As well as the seldom-performed cantata for bass, Spande ancora a mio dispetto and Ah! Crudel, nel pianto mio scored forsoprano solo, Bonizzoni also directs the Spanish-texted No se emendará jamás.

In this latest outing Bonizzoni continues with his policy of bringing forward accomplished singers with an intense and direct feel for Handel’s Italian output. Where the first two volumes saw contributions from Roberta Invernizzi and Emanuela Galli, here, for this “Ottoboni” release, the spotlight falls on soprano Raffaella Milanesi and bass Salvo Vitale. As before, our understanding of this neglected area of Handel’s genius is enhanced by the accompanying booklet notes. Here they are provided by Livio Marcaletti, an expert on the music of Antonio Bononcini as much as on that of Handel. (GLOSSA)

Roberta Invernizzi / Salvo Vitale / Giulio Prandi / Ghislieri Choir & Consort DAVIDE PEREZ Mattutino de' Morti

There are some interpreters’ albums in which a certain vision stirs our admiration. There are complete works , famous composers , different generations,  schools and conceptions that outline the landmark  of certain  parts of  this kind of literature. It is argued whether the musician was good or not. It is then compared with other versions. Or, as it is the case of this album, Davide Perez, it gets discovered – a name, a work, an age – of transition in this case, as the Italian born in Naples, in Pergolesi’s generation, was part of a particular longevity line, by dying in Lisbon in the year when Mozart composed  Symphony no. 31, Paris.

An album released in 2014 – Mattutino de' Morti by Davide Perez, in a fundamental interpretation – Ghislieri Choir and Consort, conducted by Giulio Prandi along with the soprano Roberta Invernizzi and the bass Salvo Vitale, as soloists. It is an album through which one of the 18^th  century’ masterpieces is returned to us alongwith this name enlisted in the  gallery of the creators of Opera Seria and sacred music, that is brought back to our attention.

Dedicated to those gone, Mattutinode' Morti is an oratorio for soloists, choir and orchestra – luxuriant, like the royal ceremonies. It symbolizes, even in this case, the ideas of greatness and brilliance; just like other similar pages signed by Davide Perez, it creates a bridge between the Baroque and the Classicism; it brings here the concertato style and some features borrowed from the operatic works. It was kept in the repertory  since 1770, the year of its first appearance, until the end of the 19^th century. After a break longer than a century, it was interpreted in 2013, by the Ghislieri Choir and Consort in France, Italy, Holland and at the "George Enescu" International Festival in Bucharest, during the nightly concerts at the Romanian Athenaeum. (Marina Nedelcu)