Customer Reviews

Cantate Napoletane del '700

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The costly full price of this recording on CD didn't justify getting it only for the liner notes, and in hindsight I made the correct choice. Filled with the music of very obscure composers from Naples during the early to mid 1700's, the music is charming and melodic but rarely memorable and occasionally formulaic. The vocal numbers are pleasant, but are all written in the highly florid, rhythmically bouncy and orchestrally thin style of that place/time. If you've heard either Simone Kermes's "Lava" album or Bartoli's "Sacrificium" disc, then this will come off as a secondrate version of those recitals. The Siciliana for voice and 2 violins is the standout, due mostly to its darker mood and chamber timbre; the rest of the selections are pretty, light, and pretty light. The use of Neapolitan dialect and inflection is possibly the only thing to distinguish this recital (but for a MUCH better musical work in dialect, look up Paisiello's "Pulcinella Vendicata" by the same performers). The instrumental numbers sound like student works, incredibly repetitive and resorting to a lot of by-the-book passagework, especially in the flute concerto. Even the central movements don't really "sing" in a way that could rescue the piece (as even the most pedestrian Italian concertos do). Only the "Sinfonia a Violino Principale" (basically a violin concerto) rises above the other selections, mining some decent melodic material with interesting parts between soloist and accompaniment.

I can't fault the performers: the tenor injects these rather bland works with a good deal of personality (even if they don't give him a chance to demonstrate his technique one way or another). Capella de Turchini under the direction of Antonio Florio is as always perfectly balanced in tone, tempo and spirit. There's very little they can do wrong, and for their performance alone I'm still glad I got this recording. Instrumental soloists on flute, mandolin and violin make the best of what little they have, but you can tell they're not being challenged by these pieces.

For a more favorable review (and a much more erudite one):
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