Sogno barocco - Naive V5286 [GF]: Classical Music Reviews - December 2012 MusicWeb-International

Some years ago Anne Sofie von Otter went back to where she began her solo career, as a Bach singer. That highly successful album obviously whetted her appetite for baroque, since this is the third disc of such repertoire. Seventeenth century Italian baroque is a far cry from eighteenth century Bach but with von Otter’s sure sense for style that’s not a problem. Monteverdi and Cavalli were probably the two greatest 17^th century opera composers and whether they co-operated on L’incoronazione di Poppea is open to debate. Even Ferrari is suggested as a possible collaborator. Whoever penned the famous final duet was inspired and this is, by the side of Dido’s lament from Dido and Aeneas, the best known opera melody from the whole century. Luigi Rossi composed only two operas, one of them based on the Orpheus myth, but his fame today rests largely on the Lamento recorded here. Francesco Provenzale is the newcomer on this disc. He seems to have been the first Neapolitan composer to write an opera. The piece here is an isolated scena, but it is a lovely piece with thrilling dance rhythms (tarantella!) and exotic instrumentation and if his operas are of the same calibre they are worth reviving. Anne Sofie von Otter is as always expressive and in ebullient mood. The disc is worth buying for this piece alone. The Rossi lament describes the pain and desperation of the Queen of Sweden upon learning that her husband, Gustavus II Adolphus had been killed during the battle of Lützen in 1632, during the Thirty Years’ War. 380 years later the music and the words grab you by the throat and von Otter sings it with total identification. She is not afraid of sacrificing beauty of tone for dramatic and psychological truth. I have never heard a better reading.

We meet another sad queen in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Penelope, who is waiting for Ulysses to return from Troy. This is Monteverdi at his best and von Otter is magnificent. I wish she would record the complete opera. Susanna Sundberg’s dark contralto is briefly heard as Eurycleia.

The three duets with Sandrine Piau are also highlights, the voices blending beautifully and both singers are so sensitive to nuances. You can’t expect to hear better baroque singing.

There are also three instrumental pieces from Cavalli’s Elena. They are full of beauty and colour.

The Ensemble Cappella Mediterranea, founded in 2005, by its conductor, Leonardo Garcia Alarcón, is a splendid band, specializing in ‘the aesthetic ideals of the great composers of southern Europe’. The recording made, surprisingly, in Gävle in central Sweden, is excellent and the disc is a must for baroque enthusiasts.

Göran Forsling

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