Prologue (Sacd)

Recensione

At first sight it may appear an odd concept to devote an entire recital to operatic prologues, a device taken over by 17th-century opera from Renaissance drama and poetry. Yet quite apart from this being the debut solo recording of a highly-rated young soprano who some readers will have encountered in John Eliot Gardiner’s Orfeo at the Proms, there is also much of interest in the light thrown on the development of 17th-century opera as to both text and music. The objective of a prologue was generally twofold: an allegorical or mythical personage(s) invites the audience into the following drama, while often also lauding a prominent person in the audience or praising the place in which the performance occurred. An amusing variation can be found in the prologue to Luigi Rossi’s Il palazzo incantato (Rome, 1642), which adopts the conceit of Painting discussing with Poetry and Music the staging of an opera. Regrettably, since there is only one singer here only Painting’s contribution is given, one of several cases where adaptation has been necessary. Since the programme is presented more or less chronologically (and without break), the listener can also follow the evolution of musical style, from the stile rappresentativo (expressive recitative) of Monteverdi and Caccini through the growing lyricism and virtuosity of Cavalli and Cesti to Alessandro Scarlatti’s Gli equivoci (Rome, 1690), a late example in which Venus’s prologue is little differentiated from a chamber cantata with a passage of recitative between da capo arias. Francesca Aspromonte brings to this repertoire the first essential for anyone approaching it, which is to say a keen sense of the overriding importance of text. Her diction and articulation are excellent, but pertinently she also shows every sign of having given thoughtful consideration to what she is singing. The voice itself is not especially beautiful, owning to a penetrating edge (at least as recorded here), but this is not bel canto repertoire, and her exquisite use of mezza voce listen for example to the way she caresses the words calma e pace at the end of the first stanza of the prologue to Cavalli’s L Eritrea (Venice, 1652) command of ornamentation and use of colour and sprezzatura (the art of nonchalant freedom) are far more important in this context. Il Pomo d Oro provide reliable, if at times rather overegged, support and it is a pity that it is still considered acceptable for strings to play this music in an all-purpose Baroque style rather than recognizing it as 17th- not 18th-century music. Nonetheless, this is a pleasing and stylish introduction to a singer I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot of in the future. –Opera Magazine

Descrizione

Musiche di Monteverdi, Caccini, Cavalli, Stradella, Scarlatti, Cavalli, Landi, Rossi, Cesti, Stradella Francesca Aspromonte, soprano; Il pomo d’oro