Cecilia Bartoli sings from her new album:
- “St Petersburg”
When mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli first emerged into the concert and Opera scene, her amazing voice quality and the sensitivity of her singing took the public by storm.
I remember how excited I was about her singing, and I purchased an autographed photograph of her, taken outside of the Metropolitan Opera.
After so many Opera and concert performances, artists obviously face a struggle to preserve some sort of “newness” to their presentations.
The newest release by Cecilia Bartoli presents some old music from the Mariinsky Theatre Musical Archive in St. Petersburg. These eleven world premiere recordings give us a sample of some of the operatic works performed in Russia during the 18th century.
While the music varies in quality and uniqueness, some of you might well be interested; others perhaps less so. Regardless, this might well be a fine gift for any music lover who is a fan of Cecilia Bartoli’s art.
We get to hear the following selections:
Araia:
- Pastore che a notte ombrosa (from Seleuco)
- Vado a morir (from La forza del amore e dell’ odio)
Cimarosa:
- Agitata in tante pene (from La vergine del sole)
Manfredini, V:
- Fra lacci tu mi credi (from Carlo Magno)
- Non turbar que’ vaghi rai (from Carlo Magno)
- A noi vivi, donna eccelsa (from Carlo Magno)
Raupach:
- Razverzi pyos gortani, laja (from Altsesta)
- Idu na smert (from Altsesta)
- O placido il mare (from Siroe re di Persia)
- Marcia (from Altsesta)
Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano, with ‘I Barocchisti’, Diego Fasolis conducting.
Gramophone Magazine, November 2014, wrote the following:
“Anyone expecting…a diet of thin, phoned-in Neapolitan fare will be in for a surprise. There is rich music here, and dramatic too…Bartoli, as ever, is in complete technical command of this music, which in places is as challenging as you’ll find at this period…The playing of I Barocchisti…is brilliant, surging, ardent.”
Here is Cecilia Bartoli in the ‘St Petersburg’ Launch in Versailles, France:
And next, here is Cecilia Bartoli and Diego Fasolis directing ‘I Barocchisti’ promoting the new ‘St. Petersburg’ album at the Theatre des Champs Elysées in Paris:
Tags: Cecilia Bartoli, ‘I Barocchisti’, Diego Fasolis, St Petersburg, mezzo soprano