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Alessandro
MELANI (1639-1703)
L’Europa (c.1667) [35:42]
Requiem [13:27]
Beatus vir [13:50]
Magnificat [12:31]
Veronika
Winter (soprano – Europa)
Cornelia Samuelis (soprano)
Kai Wessel (alto)
BenoîtHaller (tenor)
Ekkehard Abele (bass)
Das Kleine Konzart/Hermann Max
rec. Deutschlandfunk Kammermusikaal, May 2008 CPO 777 408-2 [75:45]
Alessandro
Melani came in for a good amount of critical stick in his
time as Thomas Höft relates in his entertaining notes. ‘Fanfares
for the devil’ was one such, which makes the Pistoia-born
composer sound like a proto-Tartini, or maybe a Blues guitarist
with a crossroads compact with the horned one. It’s thought
that his father, a bell ringer, had most - if not all -
his sons castrated. Melani nevertheless advanced to the
position of Music Director of the Basilica of Santa Maria
Maggiore in Rome and thence to San Luigi dei Francese. He
died in Rome in 1703.
The
man’s biography is so enticing it’s tempting to ignore
the music. Because his brother Atto, another castrato,
sang throughout Europe and was apparently engaged as a
spy by Louis XIV. Atto’s fame rubbed off and Alessandro
picked up numerous commissions as a result. Hence, perhaps,
the scorn and envy of contemporary critics, composers and
commentators.
The
most fitting thing would be to find Melani’s music competent
and dull. But it’s not. It’s not quite on Cavalli’s level
but the four works recorded on CPO’s investigative disc
attest to a high level of technical skill and a sure and
pronounced dramatic flair.
L’Europa
is the only one to be dated here with any reasonable degree
of surety and even then the date of 1667 is provisional.
It’s a kind of large scale celebratory Serenata, in this
performance lasting over half an hour, for soprano, alto
(countertenor), bass and strings, flutes and basso continuo.
The flutes add a vibrant and airy sound to the ensemble,
and the strings are incisively led and phrase well. The
solo singers are a well-matched and impressive trio. Veronika
Winter has real purity of tone and subtle vocal expression
and brings her character, that of Europa strongly to life.
Kai Wessel is a personable countertenor with no quirks,
and bass Ekkehard Abele who proves highly impressive. The
work basks in a set of recitatives and arias but particularly
comes alive in the two dramatic terzettos – especially
the first which is introduced by Hermann Max and the orchestra
with a really dramatic flourish. The concluding movement
is an interpolated Gigue by Muffat.
The
sacred works may be less overtly dramatic of course but
they’re surely no less accomplished. The Requiem is
compact and pitches straight in with a soprano solo – here
the excellent Cornelia Samuelis. The imitative passages
are especially notable, the strings picking up on vocal
lines, and there’s real though never maudlin plangency
in the writing. The setting is relatively consonant with
no great peaks and troughs but it doesn’t skirt reflective
intimacy.
Though
the Beatus vir is scored for singers, strings and
basso continuo Max has added flutes. It brightens the texture
quite considerably. Once again this is a fluidly constructed
work with a strongly agitated and accented section for
soprano and a more introspective weight reserved for exortum
est. Finally there’s the Magnificat which is
an engaging, free-flowing setting and features some tough
divisions for Abele who copes with them without any obvious
concern.
Fine
sound caps this disc of obscurities. The band is well balanced,
the voices too and amongst themselves as well, not simply
spatially. Direction is consistently lean and adroit. Melani’s
detractors allowed jealousy to cloud their judgement it
would seem, if this is typical of his standard of craftsmanship.
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