Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741)
O mie porpore più belle RV 685 [9:27]
Cessate, omai cessate RV 684 [13:18]
Care selve, amici prati RV671 [11:06]
Alla Caccia dell’alme e de’ cori RV 670 [10:05]
Amor, hai vinto RV 683 [16:18]
Domenico SCARLATTI (1685-1757)
Pur nel sonno almen tal’ora [20:18]
Tinte a note di sangue [13:48]
Scritte con falso inganno [10:46]
Dir vorrei [15:39]
Antonio CALDARA (1671-1736)
Sempre mi torna in mente [14:03]
Non v’è pena [13:01]
Da tuoi lumi [6:00]
Chiacona - instrumental [5:37]
Amante recidivo (Che speravi) [11:49]
Vedrò senz’onde il mare [10:28]
DVD - Max Emanuel Cencic: The Portrait [62:00]
Subtitles: German, French, English
Picture Format NTSC Colour 4:3;
DVD Format DVD5:
Sound Format 2.0 stereo [62:00]
Max Emanuel Cencic (counter-tenor)
Ornamente 99/Karsten Erik Ose
rec. April 2003, Cologne, German Radio, Funkhaus, Sendesaal (Vivaldi);
October
2004, St Hubertus Catholic Church, Düsseldorf Itter (Scarlatti);
October
2004 Cologne, German Radio, Funkhaus, Sendesaal (Caldara)
Texts and translations included
CAPRICCIO C7142 [60:34 + 60:33 + 61:49 + DVD 62:00]
This series of Italian cantatas by three eminent contemporaries
makes for refined and focused listening. Each composer, Vivaldi, Scarlatti
and Caldara is given one disc, lasting an hour. The final disc is a DVD
documentary devoted to the counter-tenor, Max Emanuel Cencic.
Cencic is one of the leading counter-tenors of his generation, a
virtuoso of the first rank, and one whose voice is fit to be described as
that of a male mezzo-soprano. More to the point perhaps, and a matter beyond
mere nomenclature, is the fact that it marries virtuosity with colour. The
result is singing of great reach and range, in which verbal sensitivity and
bravura execution are usually put at the service of the music. Despite his
capacity for florid operatic gestures, in these cantatas, even those which
subsume some operatic mores, Cencic remains a wholly sympathetic
interpreter.
It helps that in Ornamente 99, directed by Karsten Erik Ose, he has
personable and instrumentally rich colleagues. The avian flutes in
Vivaldi’s O mie porpore più belle offer rich support,
and so too does the solo violin in the last aria, in which devotion and
panache are allied. Cencic’s instinct for the dramatic is exemplified
by Cessate, omai cessate where one finds that he cannily deploys his
lower chest voice to generate an almost operatic tension. Elsewhere in these
incisive, dramatic Vivaldi cantatas, one finds Cencic’s divisions
spot-on, his legato pure and unwavering, and his recitatives excellently
paced. Ose allows his obbligato players full rein where needed; bassoon and
cello especially. He also galvanizes his strings in the stormy Amor, hai
vinto, a ‘sea tossed’ cantata ripely encouraging surging
string interjections. The strumming sea wash is excellently conveyed. In
this Vivaldi selection I would only question the tempo for Preso sei
mio, the last of the two arias of Alla Caccia dell’alme e
de’ cori. Surely it’s too slow?
Domenico Scarlatti was another master of the Italian cantata as his
four examples demonstrate. His are somewhat more extensive settings than the
handful of Vivaldi works in the genre. In Pur nel sonno almen
tal’ora he even writes an orchestral introduction, a feature
Vivaldi didn’t indulge in his more compact settings. Again the
instrumental playing is deftly pointed, not least the flute playing. The
emotive instability of the final aria of Tinte a note di sangue - in
which plangency is abruptly overtaken by fast divisions, and then back again
- is excellently realised, without a hint of over-theatricality. Scarlatti
gives his vocal soloist plenty of fast divisions to surmount and this means
that ensemble with instrumental soloists needs to be at the highest pitch of
engagement, which here it is.
Caldara was another supremely gifted writer for the voice and in his
Sempre mi torna in mente he ensures that the solo violin interplays
with the singer. In fact this whole sonata witnesses a range of obbligato
opportunities for expressive instrumental commentary. The accompanying
orchestral colours in Non v’è pena provide a rich
texture for Cencic, and here he sounds not unlike David Daniels. Caldara
writes beautifully for bassoon and for the chalumeau, both of which are
elegantly played, and provide a wider range of colour.
Throughout these three discs, in fact, the performances are
exemplary.
The DVD introduces us to the man behind the singer. He was born in
Zagreb, the son of a conductor father. He began to sing early and there is
numerous film here of him as a child and young man. His enthusiasm for opera
is paramount, and his first musical thrill was hearing the Queen of the
Night’s famous aria. Later he moved to Austria and sang in the Vienna
Boys Choir, touring worldwide. He attributes the real start of his career to
a Japanese tour in 1992. He suffered a crisis and depression, during which
he withdrew from music, but returned renewed. He finds concert performances
‘sterile’ but opera enchanting. He is an aesthete. Music,
cooking, florid gowns and interior design are passions - clearly he’d
be no good on the rugby field - and he has ideas about a shared
Renaissance-based European identity. He cites Germany, France, Italy, Spain
and Portugal as sharing it, so it’s too bad if you’re from the
cold Protestant North - though I suspect the rheumy-eyed Dutch and British
would think Cencic somewhat affected, to put the thing mildly.
If you’re an admirer of singer and repertoire then this box
will prove extremely enticing.
Jonathan Woolf
If you’re an admirer of singer and repertoire then this box will prove extremely enticing.
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