Jakub Józef Orliński / Il Pomo D'Oro / Maxim Emelyanychev ANIMA SACRA

This release, Anima sacra, marks a number of firsts. It is the debut album from countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński – born in Poland, trained at the renowned Juilliard School in New York and winner in 2016 of the Metropolitan Opera's prestigious National Council Auditions. It also features what are believed to be world premiere recordings of eight Baroque arias, notably by composers of the Neapolitan school. 

“Baroque style is about freedom and passion,” says Orliński. “There are lots of rules of style to follow, but there are also so many choices to make, starting with ornamentation that you can do in so many different ways. With those ornaments, you can show your creativity, but also get even deeper into the piece and show your artistic persona. It can all be filtered by your own life experiences, which will inspire your choices.” 

Warsaw-born Orliński, who has been praised by the New York Times for combining “beauty of tone and an uncommon unity of colour and polish across his range”, comes from a family in which, as he says, “almost everyone is a painter, architect, graphic designer or sculptor”. He began singing in choirs and became a particular fan of the British male vocal ensemble The King’s Singers, which, significantly, has always featured two countertenors. Before completing his studies at Juilliard, he took a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance at Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin University of Musicand became a member of the young artists’ programme of the Polish National Opera.

Nuria Rial / Maurice Steger / Kammerorchester Basel BAROQUE TWITTER

During his travels in Italy in 1739–40, the French scholar Charles de Brosses wrote the following: “The Italians want arias of all kinds imaginable, to con- vey all the many and varied images that music can portray.” There was so- mething in what he said – the Baroque aria is the ideal place to find the most emblematic images of the age. Birdsong was the most perfect form of sin- ging, so why not try to mirror it in music for the human voice? The poetic and musical vocabulary of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century arias was rich in avian life: eagles, swans, turtle-doves and nightingales – among other birds or winged divinities – were used as messengers of love or unutterable tor- ment, or as a metaphors for every possible state of mind (in so-called “simi- le arias”). Another characteristic of ornithologically influenced arias was the presence of a solo instrument whose role was on a par with that of the sin- ger. The selection of birdsong-inspired works included here, for flautino or flauto dolce (sopranino and descant recorders) and soprano, conjure a range of emotions conveyed by a variety of winged messengers. Arias from operas and serenatas, composed between around 1700 and 1740, are interleaved with a selection of instrumental works for the same forces.

Baroque Twitter offers listeners an exiting journey into the world of early 18th -century Baroque poetry and music, a world filled with musical variety and soloistic brilliance.

Together with the Kammerorchester Basel, Nuria Rial and Maurice Steger have recorded an album of Baroque arias and concertos inspired by birdsong and Twitter. In their search for works they have discovered some dazzling jewels, some well known, others previously unrecorded: dreamily playful arias about love, infatuation and the beauties of nature.

Pablo Heras-Casado / Concerto Köln EL MAESTRO FARINELLI

 Quickly becoming known as one of the most exciting conductors of his generation, Pablo Heras-Casado is set to make his album debut, El Maestro Farinelli, on the recently re-launched label, Archiv Produktion for Deutsche Grammophon. Available May 27, 2014, this new album marks Heras-Casado’s return to his core repertoire and musical heritage, performing instrumental and vocal music associated with Farinelli, the legendary 18th-century castrato singer who served as impresario and court musician to the kings of Spain.

With El Maestro Farinelli, Archiv Produktion offered Heras-Casado the opportunity to choose what music to conduct from the Farinelli period, focusing on neglected operas where many orchestral scores had been destroyed in a palace fire in the 19-century and ultimately those that survived had to be transcribed by hand. This album features a rare world premiere of eight recordings with some arias sung by noted countertenor Bejun Mehta as well as including the works of Baroque composers like Hasse, Porpora and Jomelli, which Farinelli presented during his time as concert master in Madrid and Aranjuez.

Enjoying a diverse conducting career thus far, Pablo Heras-Casado has encompassed the great symphonic and operatic repertoire, historically-informed performance, cutting-edge contemporary scores, and has already developed a special rapport with a number of soloists, orchestras and opera houses.

Jaroussky / Emmanuelle Haïm / Le Concert d'Astrée CARESTINI The Story of a Castrato

French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky astonishes once again with a program of arias associated with castrato Giovanni Carestini. At the peak of Carestini's career, his supremacy was challenged only by that of Farinelli, the other reigning castrato of the era. Frédéric Delaméa's extremely informative booklet note relates that contemporary opinion, while it held that Farinelli had more technical facility, was that Carestini used his voice more expressively than Farinelli. Charles Burney wrote, "Carestini gratified the eye as much by the dignity, grace, and propriety of [his] action and deportment, as the ear by judicious use of a few notes within the limits of a small vocal compass."

Carestini, who was born in 1700, enjoyed a 38-year career, which is impressive even by modern standards. As a teenager, he acquired the patronage of Cardinal Agostino Cusani of Milan. From his debut in Milan, he traveled to Rome, Parma, Naples, and the other major musical cities in Italy. When he was 32, he went to London, where he spent two seasons singing roles written specifically for him by Handel, and creating a sensation. He then returned to the European mainland, and conquered new territory, including Dresden, Berlin, and, near the end of his career, St. Petersburg. Apparently, by 1758, his voice, heretofore carefully preserved, gave out, and his last appearance in Naples was a failure. "He withdrew immediately from public life," writes Delaméa, "and died two years later."

This program is in chronological order, from Porpora's Siface, in which Carestini appeared in 1725 or 1726, to Graun's Orfeo, which was premièred a quarter-century later. Most of these areas are unfamiliar, but certainly worth any listener's attention. I was particularly drawn to the two closing areas from Orfeo. For the most part, the Baroque revival has not yet caught up with Graun. We are due for major new productions of his operas, particularly the outstanding Montezuma (to which Joan Sutherland and husband Richard Bonynge briefly turned their attention in the 1960s). The first aria presented here, "Mio bel nume," is profoundly moving, and "In mirar la mia sventura" is a fiery virtuoso piece.

And Jaroussky … well, what a voice! No other countertenor at work today produces a sound of such beauty and touching clarity. It isn't a masculine sound, to be sure, but neither is it disconcertingly feminine – it's really in its own category. (His speaking voice, by the way, is clearly male.) As such, it might take some getting used to, but once you do, I expect that you'll find yourself often moved to tears by its purity, and also impressed by its range. Also moving is the effortless manner in which he deploys it, even in the most complicated music. It would be wonderful to know what Carestini sounded like, but given Burney's description, is it not possible that Jaroussky would have given Carestini a run for his money?

Emmanuelle Haïm and Le Concert d'Astrée provide Jaroussky with stylish and scholarly support, as does the engineering team. In addition to the aforementioned booklet note, there are complete texts and English translations. In the last aria, though, surely stigi should be translated as "Stygian" not "Scythians," no? (Copyright © 2008, Raymond Tuttle) 

Franco Fagioli ARIAS FOR CAFFARELLI

Franco Fagioli is one of the leading countertenors of the new generation. His performances as Handel heroes have been unanimously acclaimed. Born in San Miguel de Tucumán (Argentina) in 1981, he studied the piano in his home town, then singing at the Instituto Superiore de Arte of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. In 1997 he founded the choir of San Martín de Porres for the adolescents of his region. He then began to specialise in the countertenor register.

In 2003 Franco Fagioli won the prestigious Bertelsmann singing competition Neue Stimmen in Germany, which marked the start of his international career. Since then, he has appeared at the Teatro Colón, the Karlsruhe, Bonn, Essen, and Zurich operas, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, among others. He has enjoyed immense success with his interpretation of the title role of Giulio Cesare in Zurich, Helsinki, Oslo, and Karlsruhe. In 2011 he was awarded the Premio Abbiati in Italy and the Italian magazine L’Opera named him best countertenor of the year for his performance as Bertarido in Rodelinda.

Notable appearances in the past few seasons have included Handel’s Teseo (Staatsoper Stuttgart), Ariodante (Karlsruhe Handel Festival), and Bertarido (Martina Franca), Telemaco/Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (the work’s Argentinian premiere), Gluck’s Orfeo (Teatro Colón), Cavalli’s Giasone with Chicago Opera Theater, and the world premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at the Teatro Argentino de La Plata. During the 2010/11 season, he sang Nerone/L’incoronazione di Poppea in Cologne and Dresden and Arsace/Aureliano in Palmira at the Festival della Valle d’Itria. His engagements in 2011/12 included revivals of L’incoronazione di Poppea, a new production of Giulio Cesare in Helsinki, Poro in Halle and Basel, and Arbace/Artaserse (Hasse) at Martina Franca.

In November 2009, his first solo recital in Europe, at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, ended with a standing ovation. He has also appeared with Cecilia Bartoli in London and Brussels as the special guest of the prima donna. Franco Fagioli works regularly with such conductors as Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alan Curtis, Diego Fasolis, Gabriel Garrido, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Michael Hofstetter, René Jacobs, Konrad Junghänel, Jose Manuel Quintana, Marc Minkowski, Riccardo Muti, and Christophe Rousset.

His discography includes Gluck’s Ezio, Handel’s Teseo and Berenice, the solo album Canzone e cantate, and Vinci’s Artaserse with Philippe Jaroussky, Max Emanuel Cencic, Daniel Behle, and Concerto Köln.

Bejun Mehta / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin / René Jacobs CHE PURO CIEL The Rise Of Classical Opera

 Bejun Mehta possess a large operatic repertoire which comprises, among many others, most of the Händel protagonists for his Fach, including Orlando, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano, Andronico, Bertarido, Rinaldo and Guido, Farnace (Mozart Mitridate), Oberon (Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Masha (Peter Eötvös Three Sisters). In October 2008, Bejun Mehta added to his repertoire the role of Orfeo (Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice) under René Jacobs to cheering crowds at Theater an der Wien, where in the same season he also appeared in Claus Guth’s staging of Handel’s Messiah.

In concert, Bejun Mehta regularly appears with recital partner Julius Drake and performs with major orchestras and ensembles, including the Freiburger Baroque Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Les Talens Lyriques, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Chicago and San Francisco Symphonies, under such conductors as René Jacobs, Ivor Bolton, Marc Minkowski, Sir Charles Mackerras, Harry Bicket, Christophe Rousset, and Zubin Mehta.

In the famous Preface to Alceste (1767), Christoph Willibald Gluck and his librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi posited a new direction for opera. They spoke of moving beyond Baroque forms, of striving for a new naturalism in opera. They wanted, in Calzabigi's lovely phrase, to liberate the language of the heart. Taken from the height of this Reform period, the arias on this disc reveal composers exploring and experimenting, at struggle and at play, as they create the new forms that bring to opera the noble simplicity of the Classical era.