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Baroque indulgence

S Duncan | London | 08/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm inclined to believe that the instrumentation from Il Seminario Musicale is necessarily divine and thus a given, but I shy away from such absolutes. What is true, however, is that the conducting, playing and choice of instruments are demonstration class. I defer to the informed Editorial review on more technical matters concerning periodic style and but can definitely concur that this is a baroque indulgence; such imaginative and varied accompaniment.



The singers are uniformly excellent with the exception of one; and that's because he is phenomenal! I'm referring to Philippe Jaroussky whose voice is peerless among men. It is no exaggeration or even a superlative to say that his soprano puts MANY sopranos to shame. I have heard many women sing even female baroque roles with far less accuracy, control, skill and sheer beauty. His voice is cast as `sopraniste' rather than `alto' or `contretenore' and rightfully so! `Del mio cor nel piu segreto' will melt your heart. You will be fascinated, and that's a promise.



The rest, as I said, are excellent. Gerard Lesne had proven his virtuosity with the Stradella/Caldara Medea/Motets recording. Here, I expected no less: warm voiced and secure, though lacking a little of the brilliance of his more youthful voice. His direction of Il Seminario further attests to his musical brilliance. Virinie Pochon, a soprano that I was not previously familiar with, has a beautiful voice that is less `airy' than the norm. That, I suppose, adds to the more operatic feel of this oratorio. Who could ask for a more expressive and pure-voiced tenor than Mark Padmore? Very much the concerned Nadabbe. Peter Harvey's Nabucco is without criticism: firm, imposing (without the `barking' menace) and virile.



A real pleaser without too much generalisation.

"

A voice teacher and early music fan

George Peabody | Planet Earth | 04/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'BLUE RIBBON' SINGERS RECREATE A DELIGHTFULLY EXCITING SCARLATTI.

Alessandro Scarlatti composed over 30 oratorios yet only 5 have been published and they are the most significant compositions of the genre

between Carissimi and Handel. And because only five have been published, we have an incomplete picture of Scarlatti as the Oratorio composer. With this present premier recording of 'Sedecia.....' we are hearing Scarlatti's most significant oratorio on a biblical theme.



This oratorio tells of the last King of Judaea and his punishment by Nebuchadnezzar. There are 5 main characters in this work: Sedecia(alto-Gerard Lesne);Anna (soprano-Virginia Pochon);Ismale(sopraniste-Philippe Jaroussky); Nabucco(bass-Peter Harvey); Nadabbe(tenor-Mark Padmore). All of these singers have excellent voices. But what really impressed me the most was how very skilled they were in projecting their characters. I was especially surprised at Lesne's ability to do so. I've always enjoyed his singing, but have felt that his sense of drama was not always profound. But this role was absolutely wonderfully done; his voice was outstanding in every way.



One has to mention Jaroussky: his versatility and skill cannot be denied. His aria "Il nitrito dei fieri cavalli" in which he goes one on one with a trumpet at breakneck speed into the stratisphere is phenominal! And one of my favorite tenors Mark Padmore with his warm lush tone quality also is in top form. Peter Harvey creates a very convincing and frightening Nabucco. This is a marvelous listening experience."

Glorious! But...

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 03/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"... no notes! no libretto! no synopsis! and this despite the packaging of the disk and its jewel case in a sturdy cardboard outer box! What is Veritas thinking, that we all treat music as wallpaper and listen to it while ironing our gymn shorts? Or that we only listen in the car? I'm really torqued! The other reviewers have given this performance adequate praise, every word of which is justified. It couldn't be better, and I'd fly all the way to Australia to see it staged, so I can't give less than five stars for the composition or for the performance. But heads up, Virgin Veritas! You earn minus ten! I'll hesitate to buy another CD from you if you treat the listener so shabbily!



Next morning: I listened to the second disk of Sedecia, and the music was so compelling that I let my coffee get cold. (I should mention that I'm a six-cup a day espresso addict.) It was still impossible to have more than a vague sense of what was "happening" on the invisible stage, but the panoply of emotions conveyed by the music was unmistakable - bravura, pathos, defiance, despair, repentance, triumph - all portrayed stirringly with every sonic resource of the small Baroque orchestra, and all evoked by the astonishing warmth of the voices of male alto Gerard Lesne and male soprano Philippe Jaroussky in the roles, I think, of father and son. Jaroussky is a phenomenon of nature, and this is his best performance ever in my opinion. The martial music at the beginning and end of this second act is truly stirring, on a par with the best of Handel. Alessandro Scarlatti has been soaring in my estimation recently, as I've had time to listen to recent performances on CD; with this Sedecia, he's crashed the pantheon and taken a throne alongside Bach and Handel. But I still wish the dingbats at Virgin Veritas had given us a libretto, or even a list of tracks."