Simon Standage. Kenneth Gilbert. Bejun Mehta. This recording of Orlando was done in a studio and released by the reconstituted Archiv Produktion label in , but it features the cast and musicians from a live production in Brussels. For some this may be an improvement; the staging was controversial, presenting Ariosto's king Orlando as a kind of arsonist.
Here everything is stripped down to the musical elements, which are very fine indeed. A good deal of the opera's abundant stage machinery is retained, and here and elsewhere the Archiv engineering team does very well.
The ensembles give the feel of listening to an opera, but nothing is boxy or distorted. Orlando, rediscovered only in , ranks among the most unjustifiably neglected of Handel's operas. Its modern champion, countertenor Bejun Mehta, reprises the title role here, and his performance is well worth the price of this two-disc set. The climax of the opera comes with Orlando's descent into madness at end of Act II, and Mehta's performance here, totally absorbed in the role and not at all histrionic, is extraordinary.
He's backed by a strong international cast, notably bass Konstantin Wolff as Zoroaster who has the task of talking Orlando down , and in all this could be the performance that puts Orlando on operatic stages, not just in recorded excerpt compilations. Bach: Violin Concertos. Giuliano Carmignola. Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or. It is absolutely something new and different, and it's hard to imagine Bach not being a bit startled by it.
The fast movements are tumultuous and pushed to the edge in terms of tempo. Reactions to them will likely be entirely individual, and listeners might end up thinking that some of the concertos are enhanced or at least refracted in new directions by this approach, but that in others a certain Apollonian quality intrinsic to Bach is lost. Give Carmignola credit on a couple of counts: as fast and furious as things get, contrapuntal clarity is never lost, and in the slow movements he pours on an intensely lyrical quality that may also be unidiomatic, but will get to listeners if they let it.
Carmignola is well supported by fine studio sound from the revived Archiv label, and in general this is the kind of album that gets points for sheer audacity. Haydn - Pinnock: Complete Recordings. The English Concert.
From to , Trevor Pinnock and his period ensemble, the English Concert, with the Choir of the English Concert, recorded an impressive series of albums devoted to the symphonies, concertos, and choral masterpieces of Franz Joseph Haydn, which were issued on the prestigious Archiv Produktion label.
While many of these releases are available separately, this box set brings them all together in one convenient and affordable package.
Pinnock's imaginative interpretations and the orchestra's lively playing make these genuinely exciting renditions, and they were among the earliest of historically informed performances to appear on a major label.
Now that authentic period practices and original instrumentation are more commonly heard in Classical repertoire, the recordings may have lost some of their ability to surprise, but they have proved durable over time. Included are the early symphonies, "Le Matin," "Le Midi," and "Le Soir," the "Strum und Drang" symphonies of the middle period, the three violin concertos, the concertos for trumpet, oboe, and harpsichord, three masses, the Te Deum, and the Stabat Mater.
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