One of the consequences of the rationalisation in the recording
industry, now largely in three or four big hands, is to be found in this
collection. Whereas in the days of LP each relatively small, by
today’s standards, recording company had its roster of contracted
artists who were often kept strictly in-house. If one were allowed to stray,
a
quid pro quo was often the cost.
In the case of Joyce DiDonato (b.1969) she seems to have worked
extensively for Erato, now part of the Warner empire, where her recordings
for Virgin and EMI have also ended. As yet, it seems that Warner, in putting
out this very welcome collection to celebrate her first ten years with the
Erato/Warner Classics, are not up to pace with the details of her EMI and
Virgin recordings. A web search enables me to provide details not available
in the leaflet accompanying the collection - see end of review. The outcome
of all this is a very varied collection showing something of the
singer’s current strengths as well as her vocal evolution as caught on
record.
The first CD is largely of baroque arias accompanied by period
instrument bands. The selection is esoteric, even eclectic, ranging well
beyond the norm of Handel, Monteverdi and Vivaldi. Names such as Orlandini,
Giocomelli and Porta are featured, the latter two with sizeable arias. Porta
in particular was one of the greatest opera composers of his time. Born in
Venice he travelled in Italy, eventually making his way to London where his
opera
Numitore was performed in 1720, before returning to his
birthplace. Giocomelli was born in Picenza and became Kapellmeister to the
Duke of Parma. Between 1724 and 1740 he became a popular composer of opera,
composing nineteen works. All these works, rare or more common, are
particularly revealing of DiDonato’s artistry with period instruments
pitched at somewhere below the standard A=440 of today. The outcome is that
we are able to hear her rich lower tones and expressive nuances.
The experience of Joyce DiDonato’s singing of the early
Baroque era is significantly special for those more used to her in the
bel canto repertoire. Examples of the latter are found on the second
disc of this generous collection of thirty-one tracks. Many readers may have
heard her in 2013 live transmissions from New York’s Metropolitan
Opera in Donizetti’s
Maria Stuarda,
where her acting and
singing were spectacular. What we heard there was described to me by an
eminent critic as “the performance of the season.” Likewise
thrilling is her singing in Rossini’s
La Donna del
Lago,
transmitted live from London’s Covent Garden alongside
Juan Diego Florez and Colin Lee. The compilation includes the concluding
rondo
Tanti affetti in tal momento. Fra il padre, e fra l'amante
where Elena expresses her emotions and sings of her thanks for the saving of
her father (CD2 tr.7). Spectacular vocalisation and characterisation are to
be found in her singing of two more well known Rossini favourites,
Una
voce poco fa from
Il barbiere di Sivigliaand
Nacqui all'affanno from
La Cenerentola (CD2 trs. 3 and 9). She
is scheduled to sing the latter in a live transmission from The Met in 2014.
Mozart links the two discs, including two items not previously
issued on CD:
Parto parto from
La Clemenza di Tito and the
short
Aprite, pesto aprite (CD1 trs. 14 and 16). More interestingly
perhaps, there’s the recitative and aria
Mi Tradi from
Don
Giovanni (CD2 tr2), full of bite and venom as befits Donna
Elvira’s situation.
Two areas of repertoire that I had not heard her in before are to be
welcomed on the second disc. They are
Amour, viens rendre à mon
âme from Gluck’s
Orphée et Eurydice,
(tr.1)
sung with real feeling and
Ascolta! Se Romeo t'uccise un
figlio… tremenda ultrice spada from Bellini’s
I Capuleti
e i Montecchi (rr.2). The Bellini impresses greatly and I would love to
hear more. Also on the second disc is more contemporary music including two
extracts from Jake Heggies’
Dead Man Walking (trs.11 and 14),
premiered in 2000. That opera has already had two complete recordings. The
remaining popular pieces are trite sweetmeats that will please some.
Anybody who heard DiDonato at the
Last Night of the BBC Proms
or on live transmissions at the cinema will want this selection to better
know her outstanding singing skills in more diverse repertoire.
Robert J Farr
Track-Listing
CD 1
George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
Serse (1738) Frondi tenere... Ombra mai fu - Alan
Curtis [3.00]
Crude furie degl'orridi abissi - Christophe Rousset/Les Talens
Lyrique [3.43]
Teseo (1713) Moriro, ma vendicata - Christophe
Rousset/Les Talens Lyrique [4.46]
Addio, mio caro bene - Patrizia Ciofi/Alan Curtis/Il Complesso
Barocco [2.50]
Rodelinda (1725)
Io t'abraccio - Patrizia
Ciofi/Il Complesso Barocco [6.40]
Ariodante (1735) Scherza infida - Alan Curtis/Il
Complesso Barocco [9.57]
Radamisto (1720) Vanne, sorella ingrata - Il Complesso
Barocco/Alan Curtis 2.36]
Hercules (1745) Where shall I fly? - Christophe
Rousset/Les Talens Lyrique [6.00]
Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567-1643)
L'Incoronazione di poppea (1643) Addio, Roma - Le
Concert d`Astrée [4.04]
Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741)
Ercole su'l Termodonte (1723) Nonsaria pena la mia
[2.32]
Giuseppe Maria ORLANDINI (1676-1760)
Berenice (1725) Col versar, barbaro, il sangue - Il
Complesso Barocco/Alan Curtis [3.36]
Geminiano GIOCOMELLI (1692-1740)
Merope (1734) Sposa, son disprezzata - Il Complesso
Barocco/Alan Curtis [8.47]
Giovanni PORTA (1675-1755)
Ifigenia in Aulide (1738) Madre diletta, abbracciami -
Il Complesso Barocco/Alan Curtis [7.39]
MOZART (1756-1791)
La Clemenza di Tito Parto, parto - Orchestre de
l'Opéra National de Lyon [6.09]
Le Nozze di Figaro
Voi che sapete - Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Lyon [2.52]
Aprite, presto aprite - Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Lyon
[2.00]
CD 2
Christoph Willibald GLUCK (1714-1787)
Orphée et Eurydice (1774) Amour, viens rendre
à mon âme - Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Lyon [5.00]
MOZART (1756-1791)
Don Giovanni (1787) In quali eccessi, o numi... Mi
tradi quell'alma ingrata - Yannick Nézet-Séguin - Mahler
Chamber Orchestra [6.10]
Gioachino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816) Una voce poco fa -
Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Edoardo Müller
[6.01]
Maometto II (1820) Giusto ciel, in tal periglio -
Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Edoardo Müller
[3.33]
Stabat Mater (1841) Quis est homo - Anna
Netrebko/Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Antonio
Pappano [6.21]
La donna del lago (1819) Tanti affetti in tal momento.
Fra il padre, e fra l'amante - Edoardo Muller/Coro dell'Accademia di Santa
Cecilia [8.24]
La Cenerentola (1817) Nacqui all'affanno - Choeurs de
l'Opéra National de Lyon [7.18]
Vincenzo BELLINI (1801-1835)
I Capuleti e i Montecchi, (1830) Ascolta! Se Romeo
t'uccise un figlio … tremenda ultrice spada - Orchestre de
l'Opéra National de Lyon/Kazushi Ono [7.11]
Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869)
La Damnation de Faust (1846) D'amour l'ardente flamme
- Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Lyon [8.08]
Richard STRAUSS (1864 -1949)
Ariadne auf Naxos (1916) Seien wir wieder gut - Nabil
Suliman/Orchestre de l'Opéra
Jake HEGGIE (b. 1961)
Dead Man Walking You've been so good to him and all of
us ... Who will walk with me? - Frederica von Stade/Patrick Summers [4.15]
He will gather us around, all around [1.24]
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN.
Carousel (1945) You'll Never Walk Alone - John
Wilson/The John Wilson Orchestra [2.24]
The Sound of Music (1959) Climb Ev'ry Mountain - John
Wilson/The John Wilson Orchestra [2.44]
ARLEN and HARBURG
The Wizard of Oz (1939) Somewhere over the rainbow -
Kansas City Orchestra/Michael Stern [5.40]
