Cecilia Bartoli: Mission

Easy CD-DA | FLAC tracks | Covers | 475 Mb
Date CD: September 24, 2012 | Decca | 80:26

CD
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Maybe the situation is quieter now...

One of Italy’s greatest composers between Monteverdi and Vivaldi, Agostino Steffani (1654–1728), is the unsung master of early Baroque opera. As an Italian who spent most of his life in Germany, he has been largely ignored by musicologists from both countries, so his music has fallen between the cracks of history. Yet his contribution to the development of opera can be compared to that of Lully in France or Purcell in England, and his fluent synthesis of the then-rival Italian, German and French styles paved the way for the cosmopolitan new musical language of Handel, Bach and Telemann.
But besides being a busy composer and court musician, Steffani was many other things as well: a high-ranking cleric, jet-setting diplomat, art collector, linguist, dynastic matchmaker, international peacemaker and probably spy. Personally involved in many of the major political upheavals and scandals of his day – often pointedly reflecting them in the plots of his operas.
Autumn 2012 marks the release of Mission, a sensational new album from the world’s best-selling classical artist, Cecilia Bartoli, and a project with international politics, religious conflict, diplomatic secrecy, spying and sensational music at its heart.
The album showcases the music of a little-known Italian composer and will include solo arias of various moods and styles, several duets, solo numbers with chorus – all sung in Italian – and instrumental interludes that create an organic transition from one piece to the next and an arc that reaches from the beginning to the end of the album.
Among the distinguished names appearing on Mission is star French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky who features in a first-time collaboration with Cecilia on a selection of duets, alongside the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, the period orchestra I Barocchisti from Lugano, Switzerland, and conductor Diego Fasolis.
A cinematographic vision of the album directed by Olivier Simonnet and filmed in the historic Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) and in the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles will be available on DVD later in the year.

tracklist:

Works by Agostino Steffani:

1 Schiere invitte, non tardate (Alarico)

da Alarico il Baltha, cioè L’audace re de’ Gothi

2 Ogni core può sperar* (Tanaquil)

da Servio Tullio

3 Ove son? Chi m’aita? In mezzo all’ombre … Dal mio petto* (Anfione)

da Niobe, regina di Tebe

4 Più non v’ascondo (Rotrude)

da Tassilone

5 Amami, e vederai* (Niobe)

da Niobe, regina di Tebe

with Rosario Conte lute

6 T’abbraccio, mia Diva … Ti stringo, mio Nume* (Creonte, Niobe)

da Niobe, regina di Tebe

with Philippe Jaroussky

7 Mie fide schiere, all’armi!* (Iarba, Ufficiali di Iarba)

da I trionfi del fato

Suoni, tuoni, il suolo scuota* (Erta)

da Arminio

8 Sposa, mancar mi sento … Deh non far colle tue lagrime* (Tassilone)

da Tassilone

9 Non prendo consiglio* (Ermolao)

da La superbia d’Alessandro

10 Sì, sì, riposa, o caro … Palpitanti sfere belle* (Sabina)

da Alarico il Baltha

11 Notte amica al cieco Dio* (Alcibiade)

da La libertà contenta

12 Combatton quest’alma* (Enea, Lavinia)

da I trionfi del fato

with Philippe Jaroussky

13 A facile vittoria (Sigardo)

da Tassilone

14 Tra le guerre e le vittorie* (Alessandro, Coro)

da La superbia d’Alessandro

15 Foschi crepuscoli* (Aspasia)

da La libertà contenta

16 Dell’alma stanca a raddolcir le tempre … Sfere amiche, or date al labbro* (Anfione)

da Niobe, regina di Tebe

17 La cerasta più terribile (Alcide)

da La lotta d’Hercole con Acheloo

18 Serena, o mio bel sole … Mia fiamma … Mio ardore* (Anfione, Niobe)

da Niobe, regina di Tebe

with Philippe Jaroussky

19 Dal tuo labbro amor m’invita* (Tassilone)

da Tassilone

20 Deh stancati, o sorte* (Aspasia)

da La libertà contenta

21 Svenati, struggiti, combatti, suda* (Alcibiade)

da La libertà contenta

22 Padre, s’è colpa in lui* (Rotrude)

da Tassilone

23 Timori, ruine* (Atalanta, Meleagro, Coro)

da Le rivali concordi

with Philippe Jaroussky

24 Morirò fra strazi e scempi (Henrico)

da Henrico Leone

25 Non si parli che di fede* (Coro)

da Marco Aurelio

*World premiere recording on CD  

Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor

Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera

I Barocchisti

Diego Fasolis, conductor