Ann Hallenberg / Stile Galante / Stefano Aresi THE FARINELLI MANUSCRIPT

With The Farinelli Manuscript Ann Hallenberg, accompanied by Stefano Aresi and Stile Galante, offers a scintillating reading of the music known to have been sung by the castrato Carlo Broschi during his 23-year stay in Spain (and sent as a present to the Empress Maria Theresa). Described as “a force of nature”, displaying flawless coloratura and a purity of timbre, the Swedish mezzo follows her previous appearance on Glossa with Aresi (a disc devoted to music associated with the later castrato Luigi Marchesi) with a spirited demonstration of the musicality which so attracted Farinelli to listeners at the Spanish court.

Enticed to Madrid at the height of his powers in 1737 Farinelli provided regular concerts for the Spanish queens, Elisabetta Farnese and Maria Barbara de Bragança and their respective husbands, Felipe V and Fernando VI, singing some 8 or 9 arias at these soirées. According to present-day attributions, amongst the compositional hands discernible in the manuscript is the work of musicians active in Madrid: Niccolo Conforto, Giovanni Battista Mele and Farinelli himself. The music of other prominent Italian composers of the time – Giay, Latilla and Giacomelli – also appear in the manuscript.

Hallenberg sings the written-out ornaments and da capos appearing in Farinelli’s manuscript, with Aresi providing others and following the precise instrumentation and ensemble layout as detailed in court archives. Aresi also contributes an essay for the booklet which continues the debunking of historical misinformation surrounding Farinelli’s time in Madrid.

Sergio Foresti / Stile Galante / Stefano Aresi ANTONIO CALDARA Brutus

With this album, Stile Galante continues its work in the world of the Italian solo chamber cantata – here Stefano Aresi’s ensemble joins forces with baritone Sergio Foresti in order to bring us a selection of cantatas by Antonio Caldara (1670-1736) for bass. These unusual pieces are preserved in precious manuscripts in Bologna and Vienna and are extremely demanding for the singer, asking for great skills (both vocal and theatrical). The seven cantatas recorded here offer a welcome, unusual view on Italian vocal chamber music, especially as linked to the Viennese court. The Italian bass, Sergio Foresti, graduated with full marks in piano, under the guidance of Germana Ruozi, and in singing with Maria Gabriella Munari at the Istituto Musicale O. Vecchi. He subsequently took part in the specialising courses held by Liliana Poli and Leonardo De Lisi. Sergio Foresti made his debut in 1998 in L’Olimpiade by Antonio Vivaldi at the Teatro Rendano di Cosenza. From then on, he started to appear in some of the most important festivals and theatres throughout Europe.

Stile Galante / Stefano Aresi PORPORA L'Amato Nome

Nicola Porpora’s Op 1 set of Italian chamber cantatas receive a new and striking reading directed by Stefano Aresi, a leading interpreter of the Late Baroque composer. Neapolitan-born Porpora brought his nuove musiche with him in the early 1730s when he had set out for London (with his pupil Farinelli) to take advantage of the perceived wavering of Handel’s operatic fame there. Porpora, espying an opportunity there just as Handel himself had done before, quickly ingratiated himself with the nobility in Britain and his 12 cantatas, though probably written in Naples, were published under the patronage of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales of Great Britain. They enjoyed substantial success at the time, and reflecting the primacy of Italian music across Europe, not least through Porpora’s masterly settings of Pietro Metastasio’s texts extolling Arcadian tastes and ideals.

These dozen works are shared between four singers from Stile Galante – Francesca Cassinari and Emanuela Galli, sopranos, Giuseppina Bridelli and Marina De Liso, contraltos – who have developed their interpretations, including the use of contemporaneous embellishments (such as strascino and cercar della nota), with Stefano Aresi. In addition to directing the project, Aresi contributes a stimulating booklet essay for this new Glossa L’amato nome release which will do much for the cause of modern-day historical reinterpretation of Porpora’s chamber vocal music. (Glossa)