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Ann Hallenberg, Ditte Andersen, Wolfgang Katschner, Lautten Compagney Berlin - Mia vita, mio bene (2006)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Ann Hallenberg, Ditte Andersen, Wolfgang Katschner, Lautten Compagney Berlin - Mia vita, mio bene (2006)

Ann Hallenberg, Ditte Andersen, Wolfgang Katschner, Lautten Compagney Berlin - Mia vita, mio bene (2006)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 392 Mb | Total time: 78:30 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Berlin Classics | # 0017902BG | Recorded: 2005

Danish soprano Ditte Andersen and Swedish mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg were heard to stunning effect in Spedidam's splendid 2006 recording of Gluck's Aristeo and Bauci e Filemone with the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset. Here they tackle another obscure corner of the Baroque: cantatas and operatic arias discovered in the libraries of the palaces at Meinungen and Sonderhausen, many of which were previously unknown. The Italian composers represented include a few who are well known, but they are predominantly obscure – Antonio Caldara, Giovanni Battista Bononcini, as well as his brother Antonio, Francesco Gasparini, Giovanni Battista Alveri, Giuseppe Maria Andrea di Orlandini, Attilio Ariosti, Giovanni Porta, and Tommaso Bernardo Gaffi.

Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Ensemble Matheus - Antonio Vivaldi: Orlando furioso (2004)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Ensemble Matheus - Antonio Vivaldi: Orlando furioso (2004)

Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Ensemble Matheus - Antonio Vivaldi: Orlando furioso (2004)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 937 Mb | Total time: 182:34 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Naïve | # OP 30393 | Recorded: 2004

Diving into Vivaldi's Orlando furioso with Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Matheus Ensemble, and a shockingly good cast is enough to make even the most jaded listener smile. It is fresh, unrelentingly impressive, and entertaining to a fault. The opera is over-plotted: the first paragraph of the synopsis is enough to confuse anyone not taking notes. And listening to the entire thing would amount to more flowery, athletic vocalism than most can stand in one sitting. But those with the remotest interest in Vivaldi opera, or opera at all, will be hard pressed not to marvel at the quality of what's recorded here. Spinosi is a brilliant Vivaldian who pulls sweet-toned lyricism and down-and-dirty sawing from his Matheus Ensemble, making the most of the composer's rich orchestration. And the cast pulls one rabbit after another out of its collective hat, tackling Vivaldi's consummately difficult arias with élan.

Ottavio Dantone, Accademia Bizantina - Antonio Vivaldi: Tito Manlio (2005)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Ottavio Dantone, Accademia Bizantina - Antonio Vivaldi: Tito Manlio (2005)

Ottavio Dantone, Accademia Bizantina - Antonio Vivaldi: Tito Manlio (2005)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 0,99 Gb | Total time: 184:57 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Naïve | OP 30413 | Recorded: 2005

Most of Vivaldi's operas were composed for Venice, but between 1718 and 1720, he was in the employ the Austrian governor of Mantua, and he composed Tito Manlio for the governor's wedding celebration. The wedding never took place, but the opera was performed in 1719. The Mantuan court was very wealthy, and this is clear from the lavish scoring of Manlio: in addition to the usual strings, Vivaldi uses horns, trumpets, oboes, bassoon, two different registers of flutes, timpani and viola d'amore.

Ann Hallenberg, Riccardo Minasi, Il pomo d’Oro - Agrippina (2015)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Ann Hallenberg, Riccardo Minasi, Il pomo d’Oro - Agrippina (2015)

Ann Hallenberg, Riccardo Minasi, Il pomo d’Oro - Agrippina: Graun, Handel, Perti, Porpora, Orlandini, Mattheson, Telemann, Sammartini, Magni, Legrenzi (2015)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 442 Mb | Total time: 74:54 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | # 88875055982 | Recorded: 2014

The programme presented by Ann Hallenberg for DHM is a homage to the historical roman figure of Agrippina, one of the earliest historical women to inspire the fantasy of librettists and composers. Ann Hallenberg and a team of musicologists researched the musical archives to unearth all surviving operatic manuscripts containing the figure of Agrippina. Twelve of the arias are WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS. Apart from Handel’s famous opera ‘Agrippina’ and Telemann’s ‘Germanicus’, all music on this album has been recorded for the first time.

Emmanuelle Haïm, Le Concert d'Astrée - George Frideric Handel: Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (2007)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Emmanuelle Haïm, Le Concert d'Astrée - George Frideric Handel: Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (2007)

Emmanuelle Haïm, Le Concert d'Astrée - George Frideric Handel: Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 615 Mb | Total time: 72:20+73:12 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virqin Classics | # 3 63428 2 | Recorded: 2006

Handel wrote the secular oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The triumph of Time and of Enlightenment) to the text of one of his patrons, Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili, in Rome in 1707. The libretto, which doesn't stand up to close logical scrutiny, centers on Beauty, who must choose between self-indulgent Pleasure and the austerity of allegiance to Time and Enlightenment. Needless to say, any patron entering the theater for the performance, having noted the title on the playbill, would have no doubt about the outcome of the struggle, so dramatic suspense cannot have been one of the inducements for an eighteenth century audience. The rewards, however, are real, most notably Handel's remarkably fertile inventiveness and musical ingenuity, which justified sitting through a two-and-a-half-hour performance that was guaranteed to be a dramatic non-starter. Handel keeps recitatives to a minimum, and the oratorio is rich in musical substance and variety.

Frederico Maria Sardelli, Modo Antiquo, Sandrine Piau, Paul Agnew, Ann Hallenberg - Vivaldi: Arie d'Opera (2005)

Posted By: tirexiss
Frederico Maria Sardelli, Modo Antiquo, Sandrine Piau, Paul Agnew, Ann Hallenberg - Vivaldi: Arie d'Opera (2005)

Frederico Maria Sardelli, Modo Antiquo, Sandrine Piau, Paul Agnew, Ann Hallenberg - Vivaldi: Arie d'Opera (2005)
MP3 (CBR 320 kbps) | 01:04:35 | 167 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Naive

A CD of world premiere recordings of music not heard since Vivaldi’s day. Volume 28 of the Foà Collection is Vivaldi’s personal collection of opera arias, and includes variants on the arias performed in the operas. The performances under the stylish direction of Federico Maria Sardelli, who also contributes a dazzling recording obbligato in the concluding aria, are splendid.

Ann Hallenberg, Stefano Montanari, Il Pomo d'Oro - Carnevale 1729 (2017)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Ann Hallenberg, Stefano Montanari, Il Pomo d'Oro - Carnevale 1729 (2017)

Ann Hallenberg, Stefano Montanari, Il Pomo d'Oro - Carnevale 1729: Giacomelli, Orlandini, Albinoni, Porpora, Leo, Vinci (2017)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 535 Mb | Total time: 52:21+46:15 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Pentatone | # PTC5186678 | Recorded: 2016

The Carnival of Venice in 1729 was quite unlike any other. Over a period of two months, opera houses went into a frenzy of competition to show off the most famous singers of the day, including the legendary castrato Farinelli who made his astonishing Venetian debut. Several of the most fashionable composers rose to the occasion, writing ravishing music for spectacular productions which often pitted the singers against each other in breathtaking displays of virtuosity. The results were sensational; one tour de force followed another in an atmosphere of fevered excitement and the adoring public lapped it up.

Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco - Domenico Scarlatti: Tolomeo e Alessandro ovvero La corona disprezzata (2010)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco - Domenico Scarlatti: Tolomeo e Alessandro ovvero La corona disprezzata (2010)

Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco - Domenico Scarlatti: Tolomeo e Alessandro ovvero La corona disprezzata (2010)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 759 Mb | Total time: 57:38+54:51+44:43 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Archiv Produktion | # 28947640349 | Recorded: 2009

Universally admired for his keyboard music, the vocal music of Domenico Scarlatti has until very recently been largely ignored. For many years, the opera Tolomeo e Alessandro was known only from a manuscript of Act I in a private collection in Milan. Recently the entire opera turned up in England and surprisingly revealed that Domenico was after all a very fine dramatic composer, perhaps even more appealingly so than his father Alessandro. It is tempting to think that Handel, whose Tolomeo uses the same libretto, may have known this setting by his old friend, 'Mimmo', and tried to outdo him in setting the same texts to music. He was not always successful.

Ann Hallenberg, Alan Curtis. Il Complesso Barocco - Hidden Handel (2012)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Ann Hallenberg, Alan Curtis. Il Complesso Barocco - Hidden Handel (2012)

Ann Hallenberg, Alan Curtis. Il Complesso Barocco - Hidden Handel (2012)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 402 Mb | Total time: 71:45 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Naïve | # V 5326 | Recorded: 2010

Most of the Handel pieces on this release are "hidden" in that if you go to the editions of the operas from which they are taken, you won't find them. Many of them were "insertion arias," written for revivals of Handel operas where the new singers wanted something tailor made. Two were written for insertion into the opera of someone else, namely Alessandro Scarlatti, and there are several miscellaneous rarities and rather odd instrumental pieces for interludes. It might sound like an excursion into the dustier corners of the Handel repertory on the part of the historical-instrument group Il Complesso Barocco and their conductor Alan Curtis, who has been at this kind of thing since most of the current crop of Baroque opera conductors were toddlers and who presumably has earned the right to do what he wants.

Andreas Spering, Capella Augustina, VokalEnsemble Koln - Joseph Haydn: Il ritorno di Tobia (2007)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Andreas Spering, Capella Augustina, VokalEnsemble Koln - Joseph Haydn: Il ritorno di Tobia (2007)

Andreas Spering, Capella Augustina, VokalEnsemble Köln - Joseph Haydn: Il ritorno di Tobia (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 710 Mb | Total time: 55:28+58:16+55:20 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Naxos | # 8.570300-02 | Recorded: 2006

Although Haydn’s place in the history of the oratorio has been secured by his great vocal masterpieces The Creation and The Seasons, his first oratorio, Il ritorno di Tobia (The Return of Tobias), is among the better-kept secrets of music history. The Italian libretto deals with the return of Tobias and the curing of his blind father, an exceptionally popular story in eighteenth century Vienna. With its vivid portrayal of the protagonists’ emotional turmoil, achieved largely through wide-ranging arias of great virtuosity, Il ritorno di Tobia is a work of considerable beauty and dramatic impact. This recording includes the two magnificent choruses Ah gran Dio! and Svanisce in un momento written for a performance of Tobia in 1784.

Alberto Zedda, Symfonisch Orkest van de Vlaamse Opera - Gioacchino Rossini: Semiramide (2015)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Alberto Zedda, Symfonisch Orkest van de Vlaamse Opera - Gioacchino Rossini: Semiramide (2015)

Alberto Zedda, Symfonisch Orkest van de Vlaamse Opera - Gioacchino Rossini: Semiramide (2015)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Italiano (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (Dolby AC3, 6 ch) | 238 min | 7.35+6.38 Gb (2xDVD9)
Classical | Label: Dynamic | Sub: Italiano, English, Deutsch, Francais, Japanese | Recorded: 2011

The composition of Semiramide took approximately four months, which is an unusually long span for Rossini. The premiere took place on the 3rd of February of 1823. The opera’s libretto is based on Voltaire’s drama Sémiramis, written by the French philosopher and scholar in 1748. For some respects a conclusive work, Semiramide contains, like all masterpieces, traditional elements alongside innovative ones. Rossini accentuated the role of the orchestra, compared to his previous serious operas: the Sinfonia, the longest and most elaborate Rossini ever wrote, immediately suggests Rossini endeavoured to give the instrumental part a more important role yet than usual. At the same time, the bel canto dimension is probably more developed than in any other previous Rossinian serious opera.

Diego Fasolis, I Barocchisti, Max Emanuel Cencic - Antonio Vivaldi: Farnace (2011)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Diego Fasolis, I Barocchisti, Max Emanuel Cencic - Antonio Vivaldi: Farnace (2011)

Diego Fasolis, I Barocchisti, Max Emanuel Cencic - Antonio Vivaldi: Farnace (2011)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 1.04 Gb | Total time: 64:10+71:31+55:54 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Classics | # 7 09142 1 | Recorded: 2010

Virgin Classics invites you to enjoy the world premiere recording of Viviadi's Il Farnace in a version that Vivaldi prepared specially for the city of Ferrara in 1737-38 after its success in Venice. This is not only the first time the Ferrara version of Farnace has been recorded, but also the first time it has been heard, as the planned performances of 1738 were cancelled due to the local failure of the Vivaldi opera that preceded it, Siroe.

Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante - Francesco Maria Veracini: Adriano in Siria (2014)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante - Francesco Maria Veracini: Adriano in Siria (2014)

Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante - Francesco Maria Veracini: Adriano in Siria (2014)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 902 Mb | Total time: 172' | Scans included
Classical | Label: Fra Bernardo | # FB 1409491 | Recorded: 2013

Francesco Maria Veracini (1690-1768) is today best known as an eccentric violin virtuoso and composer of instrumental music, but he has also successfully operated as an opera composer during his time in London. His first opera Adriano in Siria was created in 1735 for the London Opera of Nobility, the rival company to Handel's opera troupe. The company had only a few years earlier (including the soprano castrato Senesino and Francesca Cuzzoni) poached all singing stars from Handel. Even worse: since 1734, it could also score with the castrato legend Farinelli. Veracini's Adriano in Siria is, in every respect, a spectacular and fascinating opera. The recording of Fabio Biondi and an appropriate illustrious singers ensemble is based on a highly successful concert performance series of the work at the Vienna Konzerthaus in 2013, which made alive again the spectacular opera event of 1735.

Ann Hallenberg, Fabio Biondi, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra - Arias for Marietta Marcolini (2012)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Ann Hallenberg, Fabio Biondi, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra - Arias for Marietta Marcolini (2012)

Ann Hallenberg, Fabio Biondi, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra - Arias for Marietta Marcolini (2012)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 255 Mb | Total time: 70:41 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Naïve | # V 5309 | Recorded: 2011

Marietta Marcolini was an Italian contralto born in Florence in 1780. Rossini’s career would not have taken flight in so meteoric a fashion without a series of providential encounters, and that with Marietta Marcolini was to leave an indelible stamp on his entire output. By creating roles to measure for her, as in 'La pietra del paragone' and 'L’Italiana in Algeri', and exploiting this interpreter’s uncommon resources more fully than had other composers before him, Rossini ushered in the fashion for a new type of comedy, the brilliant, virtuoso comedy of which he was to remain the master until 'Le Comte Ory' (1828).

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Philémon et Baucis (2006)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Philémon et Baucis (2006)

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Philémon et Baucis (2006)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 509 Mb | Total time: 53:07+44:31 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Ambroise | # AMB9995 | Recorded: 2006

The packaging for this recording, though handsomely produced, gives a perplexing impression of the content of the CDs. The album's title (in French) is Philémon et Baucis, though there is no reference to that title in the extensive program notes, which focus exclusively on a work called Le Feste d'Apollo. In fact, Le Feste d'Apollo, premiered in 1769, consisted of a prologue and three unrelated short acts, each a self-contained opera, with texts by four different Italian poets. This CD set includes two of those operas, Aristeo and Bauci e Filemone, the third opera being an early version of Orfeo ed Eurydice written in 1762, 12 years before the definitive French version of Gluck's masterpiece.