This opera-pretending-to-be-oratorio (opera was banned in Rome during the period in which the work was composed) offers an excellent way to discover and appreciate Alessandro Scarlatti’s vocal/dramatic facility and his engaging manner of setting melody to appropriately varied, effectively complementary accompaniment. We enter the famous Abraham/Sarah/Hagar/Ishmael story (from Genesis, chapter 21) at the point where Abraham’s wife Sarah insists that he must banish the slave Hagar and her son Ishmael to protect their own son Isaac’s inheritance. (Ishmael was fathered by Abraham at the urging of the then-barren Sarah, who later–to everyone’s surprise–bore a son, Isaac.) The anguished father very reluctantly agrees to banish the two, who end up nearly dying in the desert but are eventually, at the oratorio’s end, saved by an Angel. All of the drama in this two-part work centers on the interaction of the four main characters (plus the Angel, who delivers the final aria)–there are no choruses or significant orchestral sections save for the opening four-minute Sinfonia. Its 78-plus minutes contain well-written arias (both accompanied by continuo and by orchestra), smoothly flowing recitatives, and occasional duets. It’s a very compact, tightly constructed piece of theatre that moves right along, and it’s filled with lovely music.

Étrange destin que celui de cet Ange de Nisida de Gaetano Donizetti qui figure sur aucune liste de ses opéras… et pour cause ! Voulant fuir des problèmes avec la censure italienne, Donizetti décide de faire présenter cet opéra, dans une adaptation française, à Paris. Les répétitions commencent en 1840, mais elles sont bientôt arrêtées à la suite de la faillite de la troupe. Donizetti réutilisa une grande partie de son ouvrage pour composer La Favorite. C’est un peu le même cas de figure que Rossini réutilisant Le Voyage à Reims pour le refondre dans Le Comte Ory.

Two rival yet similar works, an illustration of a “Quarrel of the Te Deums”, a true war of mottled violin scores, a frivolous echo of Louis XV‘s final victories. It is also the rediscovery of two of the most talented composers amongst Rameau’s contemporaries, François Colin de Blamont and Esprit Joseph Antoine Blanchard. Daniel Cuiller appropriates this music with the voracity which had led him to revive a previous Te Deum, on that occasion by Henri Madin, and which was covered with praise. Add to this the brilliant singers of the Marguerite Louise choir which is directed by Gaétan Jarry and the virtuoso musicians of Stradivaria, Daniel replied with enthusiasm to this “commission” for the Royal Chapel of Versailles.

Partisans of the one-voice-per-part approach don't like to talk about it, but many early performances of Haydn's oratorios, and of the Handel performances in England that inspired him, included hundreds of musicians. They could be performed by smaller groups, but clearly when Haydn wanted all cylinders firing, this is what he had in mind. Historical performances that observe this precedent for The Creation exist, but this seems to be the first such performance of Haydn's second oratorio, The Seasons. Conductor Paul McCreesh, leading a massed group encompassing the Poland's National Forum of Music Choir, the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, and the Gabrieli Consort & Players, makes other tweaks as well. He has re-edited the text: billed as a new translation, it's actually a smoothing-out of Baron Gottfried van Swieten's English rendering of his own German translation of James Thomson's English original.

Reviewing the 2015 world premiere of composer Donnacha Dennehy and playwright Enda Walsh's opera The Last Hotel, The Guardian's Kate Molleson was smitten by "a dark drama in which death hangs over every move the titular hotel is a shabby establishment where guests go to kill themselves." That description alone is all the listener needs to appreciate the visceral energy of the performances captured here by Claudia Boyle, Robin Adams, Katherine Manley and actor Mikel Murfi (whose presence as the silent Porter is more implied than directly felt), all ably supported by the agile, dynamic sound of Ireland's renowned Crash Ensemble, conducted by Alan Pierson.

Filmed in 1983, this DVD captures the Metropolitan Opera’s sweeping sets, its army of authentically costumed singers, and a cast of glowing soloists led by Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Grace Bumbry and Nicolai Ghiaurov.
Verdi’s drama of private passions played out against a backdrop of intense political battles becomes extra vivid in this immense staging. This Met version, sung in Italian, includes the oft-omitted Fontainebleau scene, as well as the Prelude and Introduction.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier was neglected for centuries after his death, but by the late 20th century increased frequency of performances and recordings revealed him as one of the geniuses of the Baroque. He had a distinctive, individual voice and a gift for subtle emotional expression capable of evoking the most profound grief, as well as a loopy humor rarely associated with music of his era.
Musical directors Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs lead the vocal and chamber ensembles of the Boston Early Music Festival in characteristically expert performances of Charpentier's 40-minute pastoral opera Actéon, the brief cantata Orphée descendant aux enfers, and incidental music for the play La Pierre Philisophale. The musically polished performances shimmer with life and dramatic urgency.

Nach dieser Produktion könnte man durchaus auf den Gedanken kommen, die Oper müsse eigentlich Teseo in Creta heissen, so beherrschend und überlegen gestaltet Wilke te Brummelstroete die Partie des Teseo! Neben ihrer Fähigkeit, sich dem Stil von Händels Musik anzupassen kommt ihre ungeheure Bühnenpräsenz und Ausdruckskraft, die sie zur alles beherrschenden Figur der Oper werden liess.
Die eigentliche Hauptpartie, die der Arianna, kann da schnell als eine ungewöhnlich umfangreiche Nebenrolle verblassen. Dass dieses in Göttingen nicht geschah, ist der aussergewöhlich begabten Sopranistin Sophie Daneman zu verdanken. Trotz der "Passivität" der Rolle konnte sie allein schon durch ihre stimmlichen Möglichkeiten an Technik, Ausdruck und Modulationsfähigkeit überzeugen. Dadurch, dass ihre darstellerischen Talente aber ebenfalls ungeheuer ausgeprägt sind, gehört sie zweifelsfrei zu den begnadetsten Sängerdarstellerinnen ihres "Faches".

'Serse' comes late in the Handel opera list, with only two more attempts at the form remaining. Adapted from the libretto originally prepared for Cavalli's 'Xerses' in 1655 (itself a great opera), 'Serse' remains true to its Venetian roots. The action, which is largely comic, moves fluidly through short arias, ariosos and ariettas. Serse is a parody of the self-important ruler; "Ombra mai fu,' possibly Handel's most famous setting of Italian words, is in fact a love song to a plane tree originally intended to be sung by a man who had been castrated. Irony does not go much deeper than this. The characters that surround Serse are an uncommonly varied lot with the plain-speaking Atalanta a particular joy.
Nicholas McGegan leads a fine performance derived, as most of his are, from a series of live performances at the Göttingen Festival. The cast, a nice mix of veterans and newcomers, do splendid justice to Handel's sparkling writing. Of particular note are the comic turns of David Thomas, as a comic servant, and Lisa Milne as the waspish Atalanta.

Contemporary Rome is the setting for this unique and highly innovative version of Puccini’s Tosca, performed in the Roman locations – and at the same times of day – as Puccini had written into his score. Thus the action opens in the beautiful 16th-century church of Sant’Andrea della Valle at noon, where Cavaradossi (Domingo) meets the fugitive Angelotti, moves to the Farnese Palace that evening where Tosca (Catherine Malfitano) dramatically makes a pact with the lustful Scarpia (Ruggero Raimondi), and finally to the battlements of the Castel Sant’Angelo at dawn the following day where the final drama is played out.

With this CD of arias by Johann Christian Bach, male soprano Philippe Jaroussky edges further afield from the Baroque repertoire in which he has made his reputation, moving into the Classical period. A 2007 album, Carestini, was devoted to arias sung by the legendary castrato, including music by Gluck (from early in his career), Handel, Graun, and Hasse, and offered some excursions slightly beyond the Baroque, but J.C. Bach wrote the solidly Classical operas seria and concert arias represented here after Carestini's death, between 1760 and 1779. While Jaroussky is fully secure in this repertoire, bringing to it his typically immaculate and imaginative musicianship, impeccable intonation, and remarkable versatility, these arias don't offer the same kinds of opportunities for the dazzling virtuosic agility that characterize his performances of Vivaldi, or the heated emotional intensity of his Monteverdi. Nonetheless, Jaroussky fans who can amend their expectations, and anyone who loves the music of J.C. Bach, should be delighted by his expansion into the music of this era.

The artistic heritage of Antonio Vivaldi, acknowledged for his talent as far as the mastery of instrumental music is concerned, has waited for years for a correct evaluation in the opera music field as well. On the other hand, a musician who in 1739, at 61 years of age, was able to boast of having composed no less than 94 operas had a legitimate right to describe himself first and foremost an opera composer. Nowadays, unfortunately, only 23 of his opera scores have been preserved and not all are complete; as the scholar Reinhard Strohm writes, "We're only able to document approximately 60 operatic performances between 1713 and 1739, in which the composer was personally involved in various ways.

Rolando Villazón’s Roméo wins Juliette’s heart, with impassioned, refined singing of an emotionally and vocally demanding role. Directed by Bartlett Sher, who telegenically captures the fantastic natural scenery of the famous Felsenreitschule, this first ever production of Gounod ‘s Roméo at the Salzburg Festival benefits from Québecois conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s innate understanding. Only 25 and film star beautiful, soprano Nino Machaidze embodies Juliette with unforced girlish charm, gorgeous tone and emotional heat.

At the dawn of a new century when André Campra was busy writing his Carnaval de Venise (1699), was the composer aware that he would be passing onto the Académie Royale de Musique a fabulous and legendary work that would remain without successors? And whilst the court of the ageing Louis XIV was endeavouring to conserve the spirit of the Grand Siècle at Versailles, Paris was already humming with the new ideas of the Age of Enlightenment. With its prologue and three festive acts, with its exotic dances and its virtuosic arias in Italian, Le Carnaval de Venise is one of the most original experiences to be had in musical drama from the time, one which was to earn Campra the reputation as the new maestro of French opera, as well as of being the musical eulogist for the Regency. In a magisterial act of conflation, this composer blends the styles of Lully, Lalande, Monteverdi and Cavalli and manages also to foreshadow Handel and Rameau. He dreams up a multi-hued score, capable unquestionably of recapturing in Paris both the carnival spirit in general and that of the legendary Venice in particular.

The musical notes of this Puccini masterpiece provide the starting point and foundation for a new, highly successful collaboration between Riccardo Chailly and Davide Livermore. In their interpretation, there is “no moment, no movement, that goes against the musical meaning” (R. Chailly). The result is an energetic, authentic, and atmospherically strong Bohème, “in which every sacred phrase receives its own orchestral colour, its own dynamic and its own expression.” (Corriere della Sera)