Girolamo FRESCOBALDI (1583 1643)
Se l'aura spira [2.29]
Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567 1643)
Ecco di dolci raggi [2.32]
Benedetto FERRARI (c.1603 1681)
Amanti io vi so dire [5.12]
Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567 1643)
Si dolce e l tormento [3.11]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI (1583 1643)
A miei pianti [2.08]
ANONYMOUS
Corrante [1.18]
Georg Friedrich HANDEL (1685 1739)
Aure soavi e lieti [7.08];
Preludio in G dur [2.18]
Antonio VIVALDI ( 1678 1741)
Piani, sospiri a dimandar mercede [9.52]
Francesco GEMINIANI (1687 1762)
Sonata fur Violoncello und b.c. in a-Moll [9.42]
Georg Friedrich HANDEL (1685 1739)
Dolc'e pur d'amor l'affanno [8.03]
Giovanni PAISIELLO (1740 1816)
Variazioni sull'aria Nel cor piu non mi sento! [5.41]
Franco Fagioli (counter-tenor); Luca Pianca (lute); Marco Frezzato (cello);
Jorg Halubek (harpsichord)
rec. Hans-Rosbaud Studio, Baden Baden, 14-19 June 2010
CARUS 83.361 [60.32]
The young Argentinian counter-tenor Franco Fagioli has already appeared on
disc in the title roles of Gluck's Ezio and Handel's Teseo.
This new disc is an altogether smaller affair. Its a charming disc of chamber
cantatas and songs starting with Monteverdi, through Vivaldi and Handel and
finishing with Paisiello. Fagioli is accompanied by an ensemble of harpsichord,
cello and lute. A number of items omit the harpsichord which gives these pieces
a nicely intimate feel.
Fagioli has a high counter-tenor voice with an impressive range going above
the stave. He has a significant vibrato which gives his voice a nicely vibrant
feel, but with a good core to the voice. His lower register is inclined to
chestiness at times, but he has nice sweet tone over his whole range, plus
some impressive flexibility and depth of tone in his very upper register.
The drawback, from my point of view, is the combination of a significant vibrato
with fast baroque passagework; this is something which may not bother everyone.
But in Monteverdi's Ecco di dolci raggi and Ferrari's Amanti io
vi so dire the results sound, to my ears, less than ideal. On the other
hand we are rewarded by the limpid beauty of Fagioli's performance of Monteverdi's
Si dolce e l'tormento.
Fagioli opens with Se l'aura spira which comes from Frescobaldi's 1603
publication Arie musicali - printed in Florence. Frescobaldi is well
known for his keyboard works but his vocal oeuvre is far less known. Fagioli
includes two pieces from Arie musicali, finishing the opening group
with A miei pianti. But whilst these two are attractive, they are rather
put in the shade by the two Monteverdi items: Ecco di doci raggi from
Scherzi musicali published in Venice in 1632 and Si dolce d l'tormento
which dates from 1620 when Monteverdi came across the setting of the poem
in a collection of music by Francesco Petratti. In the middle of this group
is a rather charming satirical song by Benedetto Ferrari, who wrote both the
words and the music. Ferrari was deeply involved in the early 17th
century Venetian operatic scene, but his music has not survived.
Separating the early baroque group from the late is an anonymous Corrante
played on the lute by Luca Pianca.
Handel's cantata Aure soavi e lieti was written in 1706 for Marchese
Ruspoli for the Roman Arcadian Academy, where it was Handel's job to entertain
the guests. As with many of these cantatas, Aure soavi has an erotic
pastoral theme and works rather well accompanied just by lute and cello. The
second Handel cantata Dolce pur d'amor l'affano was part of the first
group which Handel wrote when he came to London in 1710. Fagioli and his accompanists
draw a really intimate feeling from these cantatas; they are never short on
drama, and still manage to convey the idea that the performance is for a small
group of listeners.
The second Handel cantata and Vivaldi's Pianti, sospiri a dimandar mercede
are both accompanied by cello, lute and harpsichord, giving a nice rich
texture. The Vivaldi is quite a showpiece with a pair of simile arias. This
is far closer to Vivaldi's operas than Handel's cantatas are. That said, some
of the melodic outlines of Handel's arias on this disc seem to prefigure his
later operatic arias.
The three instrumentalists contribute a cello sonata by Francesco Geminiani.
This is perhaps closer to trio-sonata than to later ideas of the sonata.
Fagioli finishes with something in a lighter vein, Paisiello's variations
on the aria Nel cor piu non mi sento from his opera La Molinara.
Here Fagioli insouciantly throws off some impressive high notes. It makes
a charming and fun finale to a very accomplished recital.
The CD booklet gives full texts and translations, though the English translations
are separate from the original texts, which is slightly annoying.
Fagioli and his accompanists, Luca Pianca on lute, Marco Frezzato on cello
and Jorg Halubek on Harpsichord, create a suitably intimate atmosphere for
these chamber pieces. This is an intelligently planned and well performed
recital.
Robert Hugill
An intelligently planned and well performed recital.