ENSEMBLE MATHEUS/SPINOZI
Antonio Vivaldi, Orlando Furioso (Naïve)
The operas based on Ludovico Ariosto’s early-16th century epic poem, Orlando furioso (Mad Roland), remind us of a longstanding fascination with the Seven Deadly Sins and the supernatural that links the Twilight Saga with literature going back to late Medieval times.
Antonio Vivaldi and his librettist Grazio Braccioli mined a motherlode of emotional turmoil for this 1727 three-act, three-hour sprawl that contains more over-the-top arias, ariosos and cavatinas per scene than most operas written before the young Mozart came along.
Stir in a dream cast, led by Montreal contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux in the title role, and fine period-performance specialists in the orchestra pit (Ensemble Matheus, led by conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi), and you get one of the great, golden pleasures of Baroque opera.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
The 1727 version of Orlando was Vivaldi’s second setting of Braccioli’s libretto (which conflates and simplifies the drawn-out shenanigans in Ariosto’s poem), and a powerful statement on how to write opera. This music doesn’t just alternate between recitative and da capo arias, but glides along fluidly and colourfully on a range of musical forms and inventive orchestrations.
Vivaldi was writing for specific voices — in this case, a Venetian contralto, Lucia Lancetti, rather than a great castrato. According to the abundant historical background included with the single DVD, going against musical fashion where castrati were the royalty of operatic life helped ensure this opera’s quick demise.
It wasn’t until Marilyn Horne recorded scenes from Orlando in 1977 that the opera world began to realise that Vivaldi was good for other good music besides violin concertos.
This production, the world’s first full staging of the opera since 1727, involved the cooperation of three French opera companies. It was recorded last March at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, in Paris.
The staging, designed by Pierre Audi, is dark, darly lit and a bit fussy (probably to make up for the fact that the characters stand around to expostulate, most of the time) as the emotional cauldron bubbles in the witch Alcina’s island home. It’s a darkness well justified by the characters’ psychological states.
One can’t help but smile when the character of Ruggiero (with whom Alcina is madly in love) appears, bathing her salon in a sudden burst of golden light.
The final act, at Hecate’s temple, is even darker and starker. I coudn’t help thinking of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit, and how we all, at one time or another, threaten to become prisoners of our mistakes, misjudgements and neuroses.
Lemieux is spectacular as Orlando, not only singing beautifully, but sustaining a long and difficult emotional journey along the three acts.
She is only one of a constellation of fabulous singers. It’s pretty much impossible to imagine a finer mezzo-laden cast: Jennifer Larmore as Alcina, Kristina Hammarström as Bradamante, Romina Basso as Medoro; soprano Verónica Cangemi as Angelica, baritone Christian Senn as Astolfo and, last but hardly least, golden-voiced countertenor Philippe Jaroussky as Ruggiero.
Three hours of Baroque splendours await, athough it’s too bad the producers of the DVD did not see fit to include a bit of documentary footage to go with the great show.
To find more details on the DVD, click here.
Here is the promotional video for the Orlando Furioso production, followed by a background video made for the prior CD recordings on the Naïve label (I think they’re worth watching even if you don’t speak French):
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
