Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567-1643)
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
rec. live, The National Forum of Music, Wroclaw, Poland, 7- 9 September
2017
SOLI DEO GLORIA SDG730 [3 CDs: 185:10]
I was pleased to be able to review this as I was already
familiar with, and greatly admire, Gardiner’s recordings of L’Orfeo
and L’incoronazione di Poppea. This live recording of Il ritorno
d’Ulisse in patria from Wrocaw, Poland was timed to coincide with
the 450th anniversary of the composer’s birth. It marks a seven-month
exploration of the three surviving full-length operas Gardiner undertook
with his Monteverdi Choir, the period instruments of the English Baroque
Soloists and a cosmopolitan group of soloists. There were thirty-three
performances in eight European countries, which ended up in Chicago
and New York.
Monteverdi was seventy-four when he composed the opera, in a great burst
of creativity. The librettist was Giacomo Badoaro. It consists of a
prologue and five acts, which were later revised to three. The premiere
took place at the Teatro
Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during
the 1639–1640 carnival season. Badoaro turned to the second
half of Homer's Odyssey
for his libretto. Ulysses returns to his kingdom of Ithaca after the
Trojan War. He finds that a trio of suitors have been competing for
his wife. He summons the assistance of the gods, his son Telemaco and
his friend Eumete, and vanquishes the suitors and retakes his kingdom.
This release is issued by Gardiner's own label “Soli
Deo Gloria”, so named from the initials that Johann Sebastian Bach appended
at the end of each of his cantatas, dedicating them to the "glory
of God alone". Having purchased several of the Bach Cantata series,
I'm very impressed by the label’s high quality production
and presentation. This recording adheres to the same format - a black
hard-back book/case. Annotations in English, German and French are provided
by Gardiner himself and Tim Carter, an authority on music in late Renaissance
and early Baroque Italy, and offer the listener illuminating background
and context. Full Italian libretto with English translation is provided.
This tale of steadfast devotion is vividly brought to life by some of
the most beguiling, yet moving, music you’re ever likely to hear.
The drama is rendered more palpable by the intimate relationship of
the singers to the instrumentalists. Gardiner opted for a semi-staged
performance or, rather, an "enhanced concert performance",
as he himself likes to describe it. I always find him a wonderfully
inspirational conductor and here he elicits from the orchestral players
a sensitivity to the text in terms of nuance and inflection.
I particularly liked his hand-picked soloists. I would single out Furio
Zanasi as an excellent Ulysses, noble yet world-weary. Lucile Richardot
similarly impresses, successful in bringing both warmth and drama to
the part. Krystian Adam as Ulysses' son Telemachus
brings sufficient vitality to his role.
The opera is superbly recorded, and the engineers have achieved an admirable
balance between soloists, choir and instrumental players. This is music-making
of the highest order.
Stephen Greenbank
Performers
Furio Zanasi (Ulisse)
Lucile Richardot (Penelope)
Krystian Adam (Telemaco)
Hana Blažíková (Minerva / Fortuna)
Gianluca Buratto (Tempo / Nettuno / Antinoo)
Michal Czerniawski (Pisandro)
Gareth Treseder (Anfinomo)
Zachary Wilder (Eurimaco)
Anna Dennis (Melanto)
John Taylor Ward (Giove)
Francesca Boncompagni (Giunone)
Robert Burt (Iro)
Francisco Fernández-Rueda (Eumete)
Carlo Vistoli (Umana Fragilitŕ)
Silvia Frigato (Amore)
Francesca Biliotti (Ericlea)
