Alessandro SCARLATTI (1660 - 1725)
La Giuditta - oratorio in 2 parts
Sophie Landy (soprano) - Giuditta; Raphaël Pichon (alto) - Nutrice; Carl
Ghazarossian (bass) - Oloferne.
Ensemble Baroque de Nice/Gilbert Bezzina
rec. 6-9 March 2008, Église St-Martin-St-Augustin, Nice, France. DDD
DYNAMIC CDS 596 [74:20]
Alessandro Scarlatti was one of the most important Italian composers of oratorios
in the decades around 1700. His early examples were written on Latin texts
as was common in the 17th century. Unfortunately these have been lost. In 1683
his first oratorio on an Italian text was performed, Agar et Ismaele esiliati.
Two others followed in 1685.
In 1693 Scarlatti set two libretti to music, one of which was La Giuditta.
It was scored for five voices, strings and bc, and the libretto was written
by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. In 1697 Scarlatti returned to the subject, and
composed another oratorio with the same title, this time for three solo voices,
strings and bc. It was not a reworking of the previous one, as the libretto
of this work was written by Pietro Ottoboni's father Antonio.
The story is about Judith, who seduces and then kills Holofernes, the head
of the army besieging the city of Betulia. The subject was highly suitable
to create a musical drama, and in the 18th century Antonio Vivaldi (Judita
triumphans) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Betulia liberata) were
also attracted to the story. Scarlatti's oratorio recorded here is called the Cambridge
Giuditta, as the manuscript is preserved in the Rowe Music Library of King's
College, Cambridge.
There are just three roles: Judith (Giuditta), the Nurse (Nutrice) and Holofernes
(Oloferne). The oratorio is in two parts: the first is about Judith preparing
for the seduction and killing of Holofernes and her arrival in the army camp.
When Holofernes gives in to her charms Judith sings: "Ho vinto" (I
have conquered). In the second part she lulls Holofernes to sleep, with the
help of her nurse, who sings a story about the 'Hebrew Hercules', Samson. When
Holofernes is asleep, Judith takes his sword and cuts his head off. She returns
to the city and sings the praise of God.
The work begins with a short Sinfonia in three sections, and then follows a
sequence of recitatives and arias and a couple of duets. Most arias are rather
short, and 14 of the 22 arias are written in da capo form. The singers
are mostly supported by the basso continuo alone, with the strings playing
the ritornellos. There are some arias in which the strings have a more prominent
part. One of them is the very first, 'Turbe timide', depicting the anger of
Judith, but unfortunately they are hardly audible. Notable is the aria of Judith
in the first part, 'Chi m'addita', where she is accompanied by strings (without
basso continuo) which play descending figures on the text: "Who can show
me, for pity's sake, where to find peace in the midst of war?" The aria
is interrupted by a recitative by the nurse. Also remarkable is the aria of
Judith in the second part, 'The che desti', which contains a virtuosic obbligato part
for the violin.
This is a live performance which was staged in a church. The booklet mentions
Gilbert Blin as being responsible for the direction, set-designing, costumes
and lighting. That doesn't make sense as there is nothing to see here. There
are some noises from the stage but that is not disturbing in any way; it rather
enhances the idea of listening to a live event. More serious are the technical
shortcomings Thes include a lack of synchronisation between singers and orchestra
now and then, as well as some intonational problems from the strings.
The three singers all have nice voices which are well-suited to this repertoire.
The soprano and alto sing some duets and their voices blend well. But the performance
as a whole is rather subdued and not very dramatic. The tenor is the most theatrical
of the three. He sings with expression and shows a good sense of drama. One
of the reasons this performance is a bit bland is that the recitatives are
generally taken too slow, with too little rhythmic freedom. The performance
needed a more lively interaction and a more extraverted interpretation from
in particular Sophie Landy. While listening I was imagining what a singer like
Roberta Invernizzi would make of the part of Judith.
On the whole the instrumental ensemble plays well but is a bit bland. The basso
continuo section does a good job. The passage where Judith cuts Holofernes'
head off is really dramatic, largely due to the excellent playing of the basso
continuo.
During the production process something has gone awry: the recitative 'Ecco
le tende Assire' (track 12) has been inserted twice: in this track and also
at the end of the previous track. It is just 13 seconds, but it is unworthy
of a professional recording company.
This oratorio is a fine piece and deserves a really good and dramatic performance.
The present recording fails to deliver that.
Johan van Veen