Dolce Canto [Import]

Product Description
Italo Pop. Includes Beautiful Italian Ballads. Whether You Speak the Language Or Not, this Album Will Create the Mood.

Dolce Canto,Matia Bazar,Zyx Records,Dance Music,Euro-Pop,Euro-Rock,Italian,Italian Pop,Italy,Pop,World Music

Average customer rating: Only one diva, only Bartoli. Amazing disc Beautiful Music, but vocally unmusical. Not to my taste Exciting, moving, beautiful, energetic, heart-felt, fantastic...

Cecilia Bartoli ~ Opera Proibita (Handel · Scarlatti · Caldara) / Les Musiciens du Louvre · Minkowski Cecilia Bartoli , George Frideric Handel , Alessandro Scarlatti , Antonio Caldara , Marc Minkowski , and Les Musiciens du Louvre Manufacturer: Decca ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Caldara, Antonio | ( C ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Handel | Handel, George Frideric | ( H ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Alessandro Scarlatti | Scarlatti, Alessandro | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Bartoli, Cecilia | ( B ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music All Works Featuring Bartoli | Bartoli, Cecilia | A to B | Featured Performers, A-Z | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cantatas | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music More Titles at Least 20% Off | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Caldara, Antonio | ( C ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Handel, George Frideric | ( H ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Scarlatti, Alessandro | ( S ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Bartoli, Cecilia | ( B ) | Performers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Similar Items: Sacred Songs Cecilia Bartoli - If You Love Me (Se tu m'ami ), 18th-Century Italian Songs Vivaldi: Bajazet [Includes Bonus DVD] Cecilia Bartoli - The Vivaldi Album / Il Giardino Armonico Lamento ASIN: B000A6T1HC Release Date: 2005-09-13

Tracks:

1. All'arme si accesi guerrieri (Aria dell Pace)
2. Mentre io godo (Aria della Speranza)
3. Un pensiero nemico di pace
4. Vanne pentita a piangere
5. Sparga il senso lascivo veleno
6. Caldo Sangue
7. Come nembo che fugge col vento
8. Ecco negl'orti tuoi...Che dolce simpatica
9. Qui resta...L'alta Roma
10. Lascia la spina cogli la rosa
11. Ahi qual cordoglio...Doppio affetto
12. Si piangete pupille dolente
13. Ahi quanto cieca...Come foco allo splendore
14. Disserratevi oh porte d'Averno
15. Notte funesta...Ferma l'ali

Amazon.com

Cecilia Bartoli's new CD features a collection of music that could not be heard in her native Rome at the start of the 18th century due to Papal censorship. Theaters, the Church felt, were places of evil and corruption and operas led people to immorality. But some music-loving senior members of the priesthood asked composers to write oratorios and cantatas--indeed, operas without staging, essentially--for their own private entertainment. Call it what you will, the music is sensational--by turns virtuosic, gentle, and playful--and always expressive: just right, it seems, for Cecilia Bartoli's temperament. The opening aria on the CD, a call for peace in the name of Jesus, is, in fact, a dazzling martial air with trumpets blaring and the voice going through an amazing array of coloratura fireworks. It shows Bartoli at her most aggressive. The listener is practically hurled back from the speakers when she begins, with rapid-fire runs and trills and cascades of notes, all perfectly in place. Showy arias are offset by several tender ones ("Lascia la spina" from Handel's Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno returns in the composer's Rinaldo, four years later, as the now-famous "Lascia ch'io pianga"), and Bartoli exhibits again, her many, many levels of pianissimo and sensitive phrasing. Marc Minkowski and his Musiciens are just right for this repertoire and back Bartoli up superbly. This is a fascinating project, rivetingly performed and presented. --Robert Levine

Album Description

Limited Australian pressing. An extraordinary album of dramatic arias written in Rome at a time when opera performance was forbidden by the Church, and female singers were forbidden from singing in public. Decca. 2005.

Customer Reviews:

Only one diva, only Bartoli........2007-06-19

Just like Farinelli was the opera phenomenon of his time, fast-forward to the 21st century, Bartoli gives once again this music of the Italian settecento a breath of new life in all its splendor and glory.

In Opera Proibita, Bartoli's repertoire not only reflects on her as a consummate vocal artist but also as the ultimate scholar. Rarely an opera singer would dig this dip and go that far to unearth great scores from total obscurity. Even more uncommonly a singer would take the challenge of singing these arias without the risk of ridiculing herself, but to the contrary establishing a new record and precedent.

Her execution of the Handel arias is truly astonishing in coloratura and melismas probably not heard for three hundred years when only the best castrati commanded the virtuosity to tackle these arias. Also surprising and refreshing was to hear works by Handel that show his wild side.

Bartoli brings this album to a high climax with the arias from Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. This is really her realm and true medium. Her vocal runs in "Un pensiero nemico di face" sound like a first violin, and as if this was not difficult enough she ornaments the da capo melismas in tempo from allegro to presto molto vivace, and transitions into a note crescendo with great ease and certainty. Wonderful!

Amazing disc.......2007-03-03

This disc has all the elements needed for an amazing disc. The conductor, orchestra, and music are all top notch. Bartoli's singing is amazing. I find this album energizing and a testament to how exciting baroque music can be. However, if you don't like Bartoli's voice in previous recordings, you probably won't change your opinion because of this disc.

Beautiful Music, but vocally unmusical........2007-02-09

I owned over a dozen of Bartoli solo albums, plus other operatic albums of hers. From the early days of 'Arias Antique' I got impressed by her beautiful singing and her outstanding technique.
Alas, starting from her Vivaldi Album, I do not find her singing that beautiful any more. True, the songs picked there are technically very challenging, used to be sung by male castrato singers. The songs picked here are even more difficult.
BUT - is singing just about technique?
There are some songs in the Vivaldi Album that have the vocal musical lines broken in places. Here in Opera Proibita, almost every song has this problem, even the slow ones of Caldara. Compare her singing in the earlier part of her career, her early Mozart operas, I could not help but wonder if Ms. Bartoli has taken the correct turn in her career: her forced high notes, though squarely hit, do not sound at all pleasing; her runs and trills, though taken accurately at great tempi, is no longer truly musical. Compare her singing with the other two great baroque mezzo-sopranos Bernarda Fink and the tragically short-lived late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, you would understand what I mean.

With the latest turn in Ms. Bartoli's singing, I am being forced to admit that this is a singer of great technical brilliance and enormous fame, but not at all pleasing to the ear.

Not to my taste.......2006-11-05

Cecilia Bartoli has her fans, no doubt, as the other reviews on this site demonstrate, people who love her warmth of tone and her impassioned interpretations. These vocal qualities may suit the performance conventions of the nineteenth-century repertoire; however in this anthology of eighteenth century sacred arias the result is an unhappy imbalance. The problem is, in my opinion, one of clashing calls for attention, whose affect is to distract the listener from attention to the music itself. True, the god of the counter-reformation was to be worshipped ecstatically. And true, also, that I am an anti-romantic listener, who grew up with those early music performances which valued detached purity of tone. This was vaunted as the ideal means of interpretation of the rediscovered seventeenth and eighteenth-century repertoire (it protested too much its rightness, and alienated people- but I like it). However to return to the subject at hand- I find Bartoli's readings of these crypto-erotic arias overblown and self-indulgent. I guess that this sort of coloratura always offered a chance for a bit of ego to be let loose, even in church- however when the performance goes so far as to insist on attention to itself rather than deflecting attention to the music, I stop enjoying the music. This recording does not find the balance between the big romantic personality and eighteenth-century performance conventions, which, after 30 or 40 years of self-critique, have some authority. I disliked it very much. I am a great admirer of Mark Minkowski's opera interpretations, which I think find a perfect balance between these opposing impulses of warm and cool- a binary we can trace throughout aesthetics and through the ages. Here there's an overbalance in favour of warm (hot, in fact), which the performers might argue is just the sort of vivification that Baroque performance needs. Not for me. I gave it to a friend (she's still a friend).

Exciting, moving, beautiful, energetic, heart-felt, fantastic..........2006-09-02

What more can I add?

Cecilia Bartoli just "does it" for me almost every time. She is just fantastic in my books. I love her dearly. She can give one an adrenalin rush with her bravura singing and then break one's heart with her pathos.

This is a superb collection of Baroque arias from "almost" operas! ;-))
I also liked the cheeky and none-too-subtle references to La Dolce Vita on
cover and the images inside the disc. Nice to see an opera singer with a playful sense of humour!

I am listening to this disc as I write this review and all I can say is that I love this disc and it is clearly one of the best Signorina Bartoli has released, although I like all of her recordings. Listen to track 12 and you will buy this disc.

More, please!

PS: How about DECCA getting Cecilia Bartoli and Andreas Scholl together for a musical project? I'd love to see two of my favourite singers together on the one disc.
PSPS: If you like Opera Proibita, buy Andreas Scholl's Arcadia and Arias for Senesino, too!

Average customer rating: Yes, she DOES sing a High G! Intriguing and powerful voice A beautiful voice, but the wrong stylistic approach... The Voice God A Bel Canto Cake: Enjoy

Renée Fleming: Bel Canto Gioacchino Rossini , Patrick Summers , and Orchestra of St. Luke's Manufacturer: Decca ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music Similar Items: Renée Fleming Renee Fleming - The Beautiful Voice ~ Gounod, Lehaair, Orff, Puccini, Rachmaninov, Strauss Renée Fleming - Signatures ~ Great Opera Scenes / Sir Georg Solti Renee Fleming: By Request Renée Fleming - Visions of Love ~ Mozart Arias / Mackerras ASIN: B00006589U Release Date: 2002-08-27

Tracks:

1. Bellini/La sonnambula: "Ah!..se una volta sola"
2. Bellini/La sonnambula: "Ah!..non credea mirarti"
3. Bellini/La sonnambula: "Ah! non giunge uman pensiero"
4. Donizetti/Maria Padilla: "Abbracciami"
5. Donizetti/Maria Padilla: "Il piu tenero suon d'arpa morende"
6. Donizetti/Maria Padilla: "Ah! non sai qual prestigio si cela"
7. Rossini/Semiramide: Introduzione
8. Rossini/Semiramide: "Bel raggio lusinghier"
9. Rossini/Semiramide: "Dolce pensiero di quell'istante"
10. Bellini/Il pirata: Introduzione
11. Bellini/Il pirata: "Ah! s'io potessi dissipar le nubi"
12. Bellini/Il pirata: "Col sorriso d'innocenza"
13. Bellini/Il pirata: "Oh sole! ti vela di tenebre oscure"
14. Rossini/Armida: "D'Amor al dolce impero"
15. Rossini/Armida: "Gli augei tra fronde e fronde"
16. Rossini/Armida: "La fresca eta sen fugge"
17. Rossini/Armida: "Ah! si, godete amanti"
18. Donizetti/Lucrezia Borgia:"M'odi, ah m'odi, io non t'imploro"
19. Donizetti/Lucrezia Borgia: "Figlio!...Figlio!...Ola, qualcuno!"
20. Donizetti/Lucrezia Borgia: "Era desso il figlio mio"

Amazon.com

Surely Renée Fleming's soprano must be one of the most beautiful voices before the public today. Though renowned for her interpretations of Mozart, Strauss, and Verdi, as well as for her commitment to contemporary music, she says that the bel canto repertoire has always been central to her career. On this recording, which features scenes and arias from operas by Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini, she proves that she has achieved total, effortless technical mastery of the uniquely difficult vocal writing characteristic of the style. Every note is perfectly placed. Her runs, including scales over a huge range in both directions, are as clear and evenly paced as a chain of exquisite pearls. Her leaps always land in the center of the pitch. Her intonation is flawless.

Fleming also displays her emotional affinity for the drama, pathos, and lyricism of the music and her ability to identify with her larger-than-life heroines. Chosen from familiar and unfamiliar operas, the music is beguilingly beautiful, ranging from peacefully pastoral to darkly menacing. However, some listeners may feel that Fleming's tendency to overinflect, overphrase, make long pauses, and put swells on long notes, especially in the slow arias, undercuts the music's simplicity and the directness of her expressive communication. The performances are based on the latest scholarly research into the "bel canto" style regarding historically correct ornamentation (only in repeats) and the problems of balancing textual fidelity with imaginative freedom. The Orchestra of St. Luke's gives splendid support, with outstanding solos, especially from the winds. --Edith Eisler

Album Details

Bel Canto is Shrink Wrapped as a Strictly Limited Edition, with a Bonus Disc of Four Unreleased Tracks of Popular Favorites By: Bach, Handel, Mozart and Debussy

Customer Reviews:

Yes, she DOES sing a High G!.......2007-03-21

When I was reading the other reviews of this album, I saw people talking about Renee Fleming going up to a High G (that is G above High C), and I was a bit skeptical...I was used to hearing her in the roles that climax on High B-Flat or High C. But now that I have the album, I can verify that she does indeed go that high! She just touches on it, but hey, that counts! My favorite selections from this album are "Ah! Non Giunge" when she sings a brilliant high E-flat, and because I just love that bouncy little aria. And "Era desso il figlio mio"... that's the one where she sails up to a High G...and She ends the piece with another glorious High E-Flat. Her melismas are delectable. And her high notes are not grating or shrill. Her tone quality is, as usual, plush and sumptuous...and the way she turns the musical phrases so poetically is just amazing. I'm SO glad she made this CD!

Intriguing and powerful voice.......2007-01-21

Renee Fleming has an interesting voice and is obviously an accomplished bel canto singer. Her voice seems to have a heavier, darker sound than many sopranos who essay the coloratura corpus. The sound is very rich. While I'm not sure that I would call her voice ravishing or beautiful, it is clearly up to the task of producing a compelling sound.

This CD begins with a scene from Bellini's "La Sonnambula." Her version of "Ah! Non giunge uman pensiero" is nicely done. She displays an agile voice. She hits the high notes well. Other versions feature trills; hers does not. However, later cuts on this CD surely show that her trill is one of the better ones today. I had never heard even small selections from Donizetti's "Maria Padilla" before. However, Fleming does a very good job. In the final part of the scene that she sings, "Ah, non sai qual prestigio si cela," she trills wonderfully. I have been acquiring CDs and listening to contemporary bel canto singers lately and, to this point of those to whom I have listened, she has one of the best trills around.

"Bel raggio lusinghier" from Rossini's "Semiramide" is nicely sung. Again, she is agile, can hit the high notes, and displays good coloratura technique. The high notes are wonderfully wrought; appoggiaturas well crafted. A number of other reviewers comment on her high note to conclude the cut from Donizetti's "Lucrezia Borgia." She nailed it pretty well, as those others noted.

And so on. No need to go through each cut one by one. All in all, a very good CD. Her darker, heavier voice combined with her vocal agility and coloratura technique make for a very interesting work. She clearly has some of the better coloratura technique among sopranos working in the vineyards of opera today.

A beautiful voice, but the wrong stylistic approach..........2005-11-16

I remember hearing Renee Fleming's first CD - I was instantly struck by the extremely beautiful lyric sound, and the ease with which Ms Fleming sang repertoire that required a high tessitura. I was reminded very much of Kiri Te Kanawa's tone, atlhough at the time, of course, Ms Fleming didn't have the polish of Te Kanawa.

The voice itself is a miracle. It is one of the beautiful voices of this age. But increasingly, I have become disenchanted with the WAY in which Renee Fleming uses her voice. Endowed with such a lovely voice, with a rich and even legato quality throughout, one would think that bel canto repertoire would suit Ms Fleming perfectly. And I think potentially it does... If you do not already possess the full opera recordings of Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (Donizetti) and Armida (Rossini), with Fleming in the title roles, I would like to recommend that you purchase them. They are very beautiful - stunningly so.

A small digression... My CD collection, I should mention (just casually), is nearly 3000 CDs strong, all of which are classical, and the majority of which are vocal (opera, oratorio, Lieder, operetta, early music, French chansons, etc.). The bel canto portion of my collection is substantial. I am also a bel canto singer myself. I speak, thus, with a knowledge of bel canto style, with particular reference to the ways in which the composers would have expected singers to handle their works.

So I hope readers will understand that when I say that Ms Fleming isn't performing on this CD with appropriate bel canto style, I am not speaking out of ignorance, malice, or uninformed opinion. The liner notes shed light on Renee Fleming's approach: she mentions that "like the great singers who premiered these works, we must use our own musical intelligence and imagination to make this music come alive. For someone like myself, trained as a jazz singer, this comes as a liberating reveltion."

Yes. That puts the finger on the major difficulty here. Of course the arias and scenas need to give interpretation and wonderful ornamentation in the repeats of cabalettas, etc. - but NOT, please God, with jazz in mind. The two fields are completely different. This explains to me why Ms Fleming's later recordings fail to satisfy me as much as her earlier ones. I was surprisingly enchanted by her Schubert album, in which I thought a lot of careful interpretative work had gone, and those two earlier full recordings of bel canto operas were superb. How had that wonderful bel canto technique gone astray in this recording? I think - I may be wrong - but I think that Renee Fleming is now relying almost entirely upon her own idea of how bel canto should be sung, rather than being given detailed guidance from an experienced conductor who's both au fait with the requirements and not intimidated by Ms Fleming's very beautiful voice and star billing.

I did buy this CD with great anticipatory pleasure, and I was disappointed because I had such high hopes. I am sorry, because I adore Ms Fleming's voice, but the swoops and the bathos of the interpretations are not moving to me. I so much want Ms Fleming to record bel canto in the future with a great conductor guiding her to avoid the mannerisms that may seem very expressive to Ms Fleming, but strike many listeners as only detracting from the creamy and lovely tone.

Three stars from me, because the voice is unquestionably beautiful.

I do hope that Renee Fleming decides to follow the guidance of some bel canto specialists.

For more authentic bel canto soprano singing, I recommend the peerless Edita Gruberova (still singing wonderfully), the beautiful Sumi Jo, and the great classic recordings of Callas, the young Caballe, and the young Joan Sutherland.

The Voice God.......2005-09-08

I've been a lover of opera for the past 5 years, and I'm 20 now. Never have I been so utterly blown away from a recording, and I have many. After purchasing this CD, I quickly bought 4 of her other recordings, as well as her film. After listening to "Bel Canto" I am sure that you will be convinced, as I am that Renee Fleming is hands down this generation's greatest soprano. Every selection on the CD is amazing, especially the scene from Lucrezia Borgia where she hits a high G above high C. You can feel the passion and drama through her voice, it pierces your heart it's so beautiful! For me, this CD was truly an epiphany. I did not realize that the human voice could be so beautiful, and now singing is all that I want to do! I highly recommend this CD for anyone who wants to hear unbelievable singing.

A Bel Canto Cake: Enjoy.......2005-07-27

Renee Fleming is today's leading American opera diva and her many albums attest to her versatility and superb musicianship. Among these albums, the recent jazz album Haunted Heart, (Fleming originally intende to sing jazz)Strauss- Der Rosenkavalier, Arabella and Cappricio as well as Four Last Songs, Mozart Don Giovanni (in the role of Dona Ana) Nozze Di Figaro (Countess)Cosi Fan Tutte (Fiordiligi)The Schubert Album, and such successful roles as Violetta in Traviata, Massenet's Manon and Dvorak's Rusalka. Not to mention she sang for such films as Lord of the Rings (in Elvish) and Bride of the Wind about the composer Gustav Mahler's ambitious composer wife Alma. Fleming has established herself as the most beautiful voice of recent years in the opera scene. I didn't know of her until she rose to prominence in the late 90's (she is also credited in the Mass In C by Beethoven in the movie Immortal Beloved). Fleming is primarily a lyric voice, whose purity and focus on tone is more important to her than dramatic effect. In this way, she is only following the tradition of the techniques of such sopranos as Elisabeth Schwartkopff, Leontyne Price, Montserrat Caballe and Joan Sutherland. She does have an ethereal beautiful voice, and this album - bel canto - is a showcase for gorgeous legato, pianissimi and coloratura trills and roulade fireworks.

Bel canto literally means "beautiful singing" and Renee Fleming brings that meaning back. Because of the illustrious efforts of such singers as Beverly Sills, Shirley Verrett, Leyla Gencers and inevitably Maria Callas, bel canto has now been a vehicle for dramatic intensity. Callas was never afraid to sound ugly or gritty to bring out the dramatic portions in the opera. But Renee Fleming knows she has a miraculous voice of sheer beauty of sound and she pleasures our ears with the sound of it. But one also sees her own efforts to sound as dramatic as she can sound. In La Sonnambula, Bellini created a vehicle for beautiful lyric sopranos with coloratura prowess. Singers like Anna Moffo made it sound gorgeous but Callas sang it and unearthed its dramatic power. Fleming attempts the Callas effect and even at times sounds like Montserrat Caballe, especially in such arias from Il Pirata (an opera Caballe recorded and performed on stage). She sounds creamy, golden, full-voiced, with gleaming high tops and rich chest registers, effectively colorizing all the melodic lines. I have not heard singing like this in a long time, and again Montserrat Caballe comes to mind. Just listen to how she sings Lucrezia Borgia, especially in the outburst "E sperto! " (He's dead!) the dramatic moment when Lucrezia discovers she has poisoned her own son. Fleming is also exceptional in Rossini's Semiramide. This is not her first experience singing Rossini. She has sung Il Vaggio A Reims, a rare Rossini opera. Bel canto is truly challenging, and it was for her, but she stepped up to the challenge and came out on top.

What's in the future for Fleming ? I would love for her to take on heavier roles, but she is herself very cautious about ruining her voice. Lyric sopranos like her can easily break if not properly trained. While she has sung Handel well and modern operas like "Ghosts of Versailles" I fear she will never take on the roles I long for her to sing - Tosca, Norma, not even Madame Butterfly. Mirella Freni, a voice quite like Fleming's managed to transition to heavier repertoire well- she sang Butterfly and Tosca with flying colors. Perhaps Fleming will continue to sing purely lyric roles- more Desdemonas, more Tatianas in Eugene Onegin or perhaps the heroine in Queen of Spades. But perhaps she can step outside herself and sing Elisabeth Valois in Don Carlo, or perhaps Lucia Di Lammermoor (why hasn't she sung that ? It's tailor made for her)Who knows what she has in mind but whatever it is, she will sound brilliant.

Average customer rating: An excellent and exciting recording I Fagiolini (not Robin Blaze)!

Andrea Gabrieli: The Madrigal in Venice Manufacturer: Chandos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Gabrieli | Gabrieli, Andrea | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Gabrieli, Giovanni | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Madrigals | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: William Byrd: Laudibus in sanctis ASIN: B00009AQMA Release Date: 2003-06-24

Tracks:

1. Del Gran Tuonante La Sorella E Moglie
2. Sassi, Palae, Sabbion, Del Adrian Lio
3. Felici D'Adria E Dilettose
4. I'vo Piangendo I Miei Passati Tempi
5. Asia Felice Hor Ben Posso Chiamarmi
6. O Belta rara, O Santi Modi Adorni
7. Laura Soave, Vita Di Mia Vita
8. O Passi Sparsi, O Pensier Vaghi E Pronti
9. Amami, Vita Mia, Ch'io T'amo Anchora
10. Lasso, Amor Mi Trasporta Ov'io Non Voglio
11. Amami, Vita Mia, Ch'io T'amo Anchora
12. Caro Dolce Ben Mio, Perche Fuggire
13. Hor Ch'a Noi Torna La Stagion Novella
14. Sento, Sent'un Rumor Ch'al Ciel Si Estolle
15. Voi Non Volete, Donna
16. Io Mi Sento Morire
17. Canzon I 'La Spiritata'
18. Mirami, Vita Mia, Miram'un Poco
19. Mentr'io Vi Miro, Vorrei Pur Sapere
20. Chi'nde Dara La Bose Al Solfizar
21. Ancor Che Col Partire
22. Fuor Fuori A Si Bel Canto
23. Sacri Di Giove Augei Sacre Fenici
24. Dunque Il Comun Poter
25. Sacri Di Giove Aguei Sacre Fenici

Customer Reviews:

An excellent and exciting recording.......2003-10-18

This wonderful disc contains a range of madrigals from very small scaled works to some of the very largest Andrea Gabrieli ever wrote (only 'Ecce Vinegia Bella' à 12 voci and 'Cantiam de Dio', also à 12 - in three choirs, are missing from this collection - maybe these works (along with some more madrigals of Giovanni Gabrieli) will appear on a follow up recording?? ;-))

I Fagiolini sing with pathos, passion, style, grace, fun and grit, when needed. The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble also makes very bold, impressive and colourful noises, too!

The whole thing is quite wonderful and it is clear to me that Andrea Gabrieli is a very worthy composer and I hope that these groups join together again and record more of this marvellous repertoire. Gabrieli wrote a large number of madrigals, possibly more than Monteverdi, and, judging from this recording, they are very fine and expressive pieces of music. Listen to the large madrigal - "O passi sparsi" - on this recording, which is done as a duet for countertenor (Robin Blaze) and high tenor (Nicholas Mulroy) voices with the full forces of the EC&SE (and transposed down a major 4th to make the two top lines of each choir fit the voices and instruments). This piece is almost operatic in its expressiveness. It makes me wonder what Andrea Gabrieli would have composed if he had lived on into the time of Monteverdi and the birth of opera - perhaps he would have given the young Claudio a run for his money?
Nonetheless, works like "O passi sparsi" demonstrate Gabrieli's skill at work painting and creating music of deep feelings.

Well done to you, Mr. Hollingworth, and your team.
Bravo!

I Fagiolini (not Robin Blaze)!.......2003-09-09

Just a quickie to let the reader know that this is an I Fagiolini recording (with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble). Robin Blaze does indeed appear on the recording as part of the team but even Robin wouldn't even say that it was his recording!

I conceived this recording and I direct the group so I'm not the most impartial person to review it - but it has been done with a lot of love, care and at times humour (including two filthy Venetian old men's songs) and I'd recommend it heartily. Go to www.ifagiolini.com for more info.

Average customer rating: Text and Translations Available. Reconstruction of Gonzaga court opera

La Favola di Orfeo (1494) Bartolomeo Tromboncino , Anonymous , Michele Pesenti , Filippo de Lurano , Marchetto Cara , Serafino dall'Aquila , Paul van Nevel , Philippe Cantor , Ensemble Huelgas , John Dudley , Josep Benet , and Nancy Long Manufacturer: Sony ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music | Baroque | Classical | General | Modern & 20th Century | Romantic | Sinfonia | Sinfonia Concertante General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | International | Styles | Music ASIN: B0000029LO Release Date: 1998-02-03

Tracks:

1. La Favola Di Orfeo: Bartolomeo Trombocino: Introdutto
2. La Favola Di Orfeo: Choir: Silenzio! Udite!
3. La Favola Di Orfeo: Michele Pesenti: Mopso: Ha ty veduto un mio vitellin bianco
4. La Favola Di Orfeo: Michele Pesenti: Aristeo: Caro mio mopso, a pie di questo fonte
5. La Favola Di Orfeo: Michele Pesenti: Mopso: Aristeo mio, questa amoraosa face
6. La Favola Di Orfeo: Michele Pesenti: Aristeo: Mopso, tu parli queste cose a morti
7. La Favola Di Orfeo: Choir: Udite, selve mie dolce parole
8. La Favola Di Orfeo: Filippo de Lurano: Intromesa
9. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino: Mopso: E'non e tanto il momorio piacevole
10. La Favola Di Orfeo: Marco Cara: Tirsi And Choir: Si ho!
11. La Favola Di Orfeo: Aristeo: Rimanti, Mopso!
12. La Favola Di Orfeo: Aristeo: O mi convien
13. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino: Mopso: O Tirsi, che ti par del tuo car sire?
14. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino: Aristeo And Choir: Non mi fuggir, donzella
15. La Favola Di Orfeo: Intromesa
16. La Favola Di Orfeo: Pesenti: Orfeo And Choir: O meos longum
17. La Favola Di Orfeo: Un Pastore: crudel novella ti rapporto, Orfeo
18. La Favola Di Orfeo: Cara: Intromesa
19. La Favola Di Orfeo: Orfeo: Dunique Piangiamo

Tracks:

1. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino: Orfeo And Choir: Pieta, Pieta! Del misero
2. La Favola Di Orfeo: Cara: Plutone: Chi e costui che con si dolce nota
3. La Favola Di Orfeo: Cara: Minos: Costui vien contro le legge de'Fati
4. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino: Intromesa
5. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino - Serafino dall'Aquilano: Orfeo And Choir: O regnator di tutte quelle genti
6. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino: Proserpina: I'non credetti
7. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino: Plutone: Io te la rendo
8. La Favola Di Orfeo: Cara: Intromesa
9. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino - Cara: Orfeo: Ite triumphales
10. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino - Cara: Euridice: Oime, che 'l troppo amore
11. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino - Cara: Orfeo: Oime! Se' mi tu tolta
12. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino - Cara: Una Furia: Piu non venire avanti
13. La Favola Di Orfeo: dall'Aquilano: Orfeo: Qual sara mai si miserabin canto
14. La Favola Di Orfeo: dall'Aquilano: Choir: Quanto e misero l'uom
15. La Favola Di Orfeo: dall'Aquilano: Orfeo: Fanne di questo Giove intera fede
16. La Favola Di Orfeo: Intromesa
17. La Favola Di Orfeo: Tromboncino: Baccante: Ecco quel che l'amor nostro dispreza!
18. La Favola Di Orfeo: Intromesa
19. La Favola Di Orfeo: Pesenti: Choir: Ognun segua, Bacco, te!

Customer Reviews:

Text and Translations Available........2007-07-22

My copy of La Favola (the remastered version also pictured above) contains a 24 page booklet with text and translations.

Reconstruction of Gonzaga court opera.......1999-04-19

Composers featured include Pesenti, Trombocino, Cara, and dall'Aquilano. 1981 recording ADD. Timing 48'15 48'01. No texts or translations.

Average customer rating:

Gurdjieff / De Hartmann: Cantos e Ritmos do Oriente Manufacturer: Sonopress ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | International | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music International | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Gurdjieff / De Hartmann: Música dos Sayyids e dos Dervishes Gurdjieff's Music for the Movements Gurdjieff, Tsabropoulos: Chants, Hymns and Dances Seekers of the Truth: The Complete Piano Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann, Volume One Thomas de Hartmann: Music for Gurdjieff's '39 Series' ASIN: B00062F6VK Release Date: 2004-10-25

Tracks:

1. Sem Titulo-No. 40-Dolce
2. Sem Titulo No. 10-Lento Quasi Recitativo
3. Sem Titulo No.11-Andante Com Moto
4. Danca Circular Negra
5. Canto Armenio-Andantino
6. Canto Dos Acores-Andante Com Moto
7. Canto Das Pescadoras
8. Melodia Hindu
9. Melodia Afega
10. Hino Do Grande Templo
11. Ritual De Uma Ordem Sufi
12. Buscadores Da Verdade
13. Ritual De Uma Ordem Sufi
14. Danca Dos Pastores Curdos
15. Melodia Curda Para Duas Flautas
16. Musica Para Gaita De Fole
17. Melodia Armenia
18. Canto Dos Molokans
19. Melodia Curda
20. Lamento Das Mulheres Assirias

Album Details

Songs from East Brazil. Piano and Flute by Regina Amaral, Artur Andres and Mauro Rodrigues.

Average customer rating: The Essential Coloratura Album

The Viennese Nightingale Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music Bellini, Vincenzo | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Brahms | Brahms, Johannes | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Delibes, Léo | ( D ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Donizetti | Donizetti, Gaetano | ( D ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Gluck | Gluck, Christoph W. | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Lortzing | Lortzing, Albert | ( L ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Massenet | Massenet, Jules | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Meyerbeer | Meyerbeer, Giacomo | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Milhaud | Milhaud, Darius | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Offenbach | Offenbach, Jacques | ( O ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Pfitzner | Pfitzner, Hans | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Puccini | Puccini, Giacomo | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Schubert | Schubert, Franz | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Robert Schumann | Schumann, Robert | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Strauss Jr., Johann | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Strauss | Strauss, Richard | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Thomas | Thomas, Ambroise | ( T ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Verdi | Verdi, Giuseppe | ( V ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Weber | Weber, Carl Maria von | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Wolf | Wolf, Hugo | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Rossini | Rossini, Gioacchino | ( R ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra | ( B ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Salzburg Chamber Orchestra | ( S ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Romances | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Russian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Folk Songs | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music Similar Items: Strauss, Saint-Saens / Rita Streich Rita Streich: Folksongs & Lullabies Pierre Fournier: Aristocrat of the Cello [United Kingdom] Rare Recordings 1963 -1974 Music of Peter Lieberson: Rilke Songs, The Six Realms, Horn Concerto ASIN: B0000U1NGU Release Date: 2004-02-10

Customer Reviews:

The Essential Coloratura Album.......2007-02-16

The artistry of Rita Streich presented in this multi-disc set represents an art that in all likelihood would not return: the Viennese school of coloratura and lyrical singing.
Together with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Rita Streich studied voice with Maria Ivogun, a great coloratura soprano of the German-Austro school. Together with her colleague, Streich excelled in the Viennese-style coloratura singing. This album presents her wide range of repertoire from Austro-German to French to Italian opera; from classical opera to romantic Strauss operetta; from lieder to folk songs.
What this album does NOT include is Streich's Russian repertoire, some thing that, owing to her maternal descent, she was most adept at.
Unlike Schwarzkopf, Streich owned a voice that is out-right lyrical. It is even lighter, even more agile, even more silvery, though not as forceful as Schwarzkopf's on demand. Listen to her delightful "Bastien und Bastienne", her Mozart concert arias and enjoy her highly articulated, musically refined delivery. It is the exemplary Viennese singing. Her soubrettes as well as lyrical heroines are nothing short of being superb.
Not being as internationalised a singer as Schwarzkopf, Streich nonetheless was a representative figure of Viennese coloratura singing. Some times I would even feel that her coloratura is even more superior to that of the great dramatic coloratura of the 20th century, Joan Sutherland, again a very much more internationalised singer than Streich.
If you are undergoing voice training, this box set is essential.

Average customer rating: Best I've ever heard Renee

Bel Canto [Hybrid SACD] Manufacturer: Umvd Labels ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bellini, Vincenzo | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Donizetti | Donizetti, Gaetano | ( D ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Rossini | Rossini, Gioacchino | ( R ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: Puccini: Madama Butterfly [Hybrid SACD] Vivaldi: Stabat Mater [Hybrid SACD] Sibelius: The Symphonies [Hybrid SACD] Midnight at Notre-Dame [Hybrid SACD] The Best Of John Denver Live ASIN: B000079BGG Release Date: 2003-08-12

Customer Reviews:

Best I've ever heard Renee.......2005-10-25

This cd is chock full of vocal dynamite! Renee's voice soars though the long lines and fast mellismatic passages of these unknown bel canto gems of opera. It is a genre I wouldn't have expected her voice to do well in, but I was wrong. If you are a true fan of Renee, buy this to hear what her voice REALLY sounds like.

Average customer rating: Excellent introduction to the world of the cornetto!

Virtuoso Solo Music for Cornetto Manufacturer: Accent Plus ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Gabrieli | Gabrieli, Andrea | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Violin | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Chansons | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Madrigals | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Classical | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B00000442Y Release Date: 1999-01-01

Tracks:

1. Sonata prima per violino o cornetto e basso - Tarquinio Merula
2. Angelus ad pastores, motetto passeggiato da Giovanni Battista Bovicelli
3. Caro dolce ben mio, madrigale passeggiato da Giovanni Bassano
4. Canzona Seconda detta la Bernadinia per canto solo - Girolamo Frescobaldi
5. Canzona quintadecima detta la Lievoratta per due bassi - Girolamo Frescobaldi
6. Canzona decimanona detta la Capriola per canto e basso - Girolamo Frescobaldi
7. Io son ferito ahi lasso, madrigale passeggiato da Giovanni Battista Bovicelli - Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina
8. Thomas Crecquillon - Onques amour, chanson a 5
9. Thomas Crecquillon - Onques amour, chanson passeggiato da Giovanni Bassano
10. Sonata seconda - Giovanni Battista Fontana
11. Pulchra es amica mea, motetto passeggiato da Francesco Rognoni Taeggio - Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina
12. Petite fleur, chanson a 4
13. Petite fleur, chanson passegiato da Girolama Dalla Casa
14. Sonata per violino solo

Customer Reviews:

Excellent introduction to the world of the cornetto!.......2003-07-14

This extremely good recording is a great example of brilliant cornett playing from Mr. Dickey accompanied by the rich sounds of the Tragicomedia ensemble (essentially a continuo group - playing lutes, viols, harp and keyboard instruments).

Bruce Dickey handles the most difficult divisions with great panache - his articulation is much smoother than some British cornettists I have heard. Dickey uses contemporary (Baroque) singing techniques like 'messa di voce' and phrases the music in a very agreeably vocal manner.

Some of the composers represented on the disc were virtuoso cornettists - Girolamo dalla Casa and Giovanni Bassano, to name two. These composers used chansons from the earlier part of the 16th century as the basis of their compositions - in much the same way that Jazz musicians use 'standards' (well known popular songs) as the starting point for their improvisations.

Several of the works on the CD are presented in different forms, which I feel is very useful to the listener.

I've loved this CD for a decade now and I am sure that any lover of Baroque and / or Renaissance music would find much to admire on this delightful recording. Buy with confidence!

Average customer rating: Rare Medieval Lauds Legenda Aurea

Legenda Aurea: Laudes des Saints au Trecento italien (Golden Legend - Lauds from 13th Century Italy) Manufacturer: Arcana ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music ASIN: B00004I9RG Release Date: 2000-02-08

Tracks:

1. Facciam Laude A Tuct'i I Sancti
2. Sia Laudato San Francesco
3. San Domenico Beato
4. Ciascun Ke Fede Sente
5. Santa Agnese Da Dio Amata/Triv
6. Novel Canto/Sia Laudato San Vito
7. Laudiam 'lli Gloriosi Martiri
8. Pastor Principe Beato
9. Magdalena Degna Da Laudare
10. Spiritu Sancto Dolce Amore
11. Benedicti E Llaudati

Customer Reviews:

Rare Medieval Lauds.......2005-05-21

The ensemble La Reverdie performs lauds of the Saints from 14th century manuscripts in Cortona and Firenze. The medieval laud was monophonic & paraliturgical, usually with a rustic air about it.

The title of the recording, Legenda Aurea - The Golden Legend, is the name of a book about the saints that was very popular in medieval times

Legenda Aurea.......2001-03-08

This is a great example of early music. I believe it is 14th century, around the time of Luther, Calvin, Cortez and Colombus. The instruments are period type, with recorders and simple drums. For all of the wanna-be Rennaisance fair types, this is your sound track. There is an early dance flavor to the music, and you may find yourself pacing around a room to the chants and beat. One of the better examples of this period of music.

Average customer rating: Go back in time...

Cancionero -- Music for the Spanish Court 1470-1520 Manufacturer: Avie ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Classical | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Dufay Collective:Miri It Is On the Banks of the Seine-Music of the Trouovères A Dance in the Garden of Mirth: Medieval Instrumental Music - The Dufay Collective Music for Alfonso the Wise Medieval Dance Music ASIN: B000063XX5 Release Date: 2004-03-22

Customer Reviews:

Go back in time..........2007-01-05

and relax with this amazing CD from the Dufay Collective. Cancionero is stately and romantic. Melancholy ballads as well as a bawdy tune! A must for any serious early music collector.

Album Review:

1. Dolce Vita
2. Domestic Science [Import]
3. Earlier Later: Unreleased Projects Anthology 74 - 89 [Import]
4. Eins Zwei Polizei [Import]
5. Engel
6. Entity
7. Eyepennies
8. Father & Son, Pt. 2 [CD-single] [Enhanced] [Import]
9. Forbidden Planet Explored
10. From Old 2 New School [Import]

Album Review

album review

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