Cecilia Bartoli: The Vivaldi Album

Antonio Vivaldi (Composer), Giovanni Antonini (Conductor), Il Giardino Armonico (Orchestra), Cecilia Bartoli (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Cecilia Bartoli
• Orchestra: Il Giardino Armonico
• Conductor: Giovanni Antonini
• Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
• Audio CD (October 26, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00002CF52
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,318 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #12 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > A to B > Bartoli, Cecilia > All Works Featuring Bartoli
  • #74 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Historical Periods > Baroque (c.1600-1750)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Mezzo Cecilia Bartoli could easily rest on her laurels as one of today's most charismatic, characterful singers for her lively portrayals of Mozart and Rossini heroines. But it's been particularly exciting to observe her growth as an artist in exploring the exuberant world of baroque opera, with its range of pyrotechnic demands--both vocal and emotional. Bartoli's show-stopping virtuosity in a Vivaldi aria from her Live in Italy recital gave a tantalizing sample of her finesse in that style. For The Vivaldi Album, Bartoli conducted extensive research into the composer's manuscripts, (a documentary tracing her quest is planned for subsequent international screening). Although he's best known for his concertos--in typically baroque fashion, two of the arias in fact recycle material from The Four Seasons--Vivaldi was a ferociously prolific composer of operas for the cutting-edge theaters of his time, and the arias gathered here demonstrate the word-painting magic of his music, from the sylvan setting of dueting flageolets in "Di due rai languire costante" to the storm-tossed passions of "Anch'il mar par che sommerga," where Bartoli spins out ripples of rapid-fire coloratura with a gravity-defying accuracy that will leave your head spinning. In addition to many such examples of vocal acrobatics, Bartoli brings exquisite nuance and limpid tone to the delicate echo effects of "Zeffiretti, che sussurrate," and there's no better test for the remarkable flexibility of her range--full and dusky at the bottom and thrilling at the top--than the huge intervallic leaps of "Dopo un'orrida procella." With her naturally large voice, Bartoli can at times tend to histrionic excess (in the recitative to the short aria from "L'Orlando finto pazzo"), but the expressive color of her phrasing is wonderfully matched throughout by the Giardino Armonico's lively panache. All power to Bartoli in her goal of reviving this neglected aspect of Vivaldi's output. --Thomas May

Product Description

No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 26-OCT-1999

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Revelation, November 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cecilia Bartoli: The Vivaldi Album (Audio CD)

I was amazed with this album of super fine music. I had known all my life that Vivaldi wrote tons of operas, but finding them, or the scores of them, was nearly impossible. In time I found a few, and was I ever amazed and disappointed. The published scores that were available were what was common practice of that time: there were the vocal lines and a figured bass and nothing more. There were no indications of orchestration. Even with that little bit, I was shocked with the intensity and complexity of this vocal writing. This man knew how to write for the voice. Until singers are willing to research his works, we, the public, will know him for a very orchestra suites and nothing more. The result will be a very stilted view of what the man had to offer.

Now getting to the performance by Bartoli. She really loves this music, as you can tell. Yes, she is mannered in some of the things she does, but that is her way of seeing the music. Her technical skills are amazing, and her interpretations (the "drama" behind the music) is just as intense. Some think Bartoli has a strong voice. Actually, her voice is very small, if you have heard her in performance (they weren't even sure she would be heard when she sang at the Met), and it has a very delicate quality, even when being "brash." Recordings give you the impression she has a much larger sound than she does, but that is because small voices record truer and better than large ones (the industry still can't capture large voices at all). However, even with a small voice, in performance she is breathtaking. She makes the music live. She has weird mannerisms one sees that to American trained singers are completely unacceptable (weird facial expressions, strange things done with he mouth and teeth, head bobbing, etc), but that has never distracted from her overall intensity. Yes, she is intense. You are literally taken away with her interpretation, and her skills. Interestingly, she is more famous in music circles for her cancelations (she cancels more performances in a year than she actually sings). I love this recording, not only because of the music, but because I have seen her sing some of this music live. She really LIVES what she sings, and that comes across in this recording.

A special note: in the little booklet that comes with the recording, Bartoli herself writes her impressions of this music. It is extremely insightful. Whether you like her or not, you have to admire the work she has done to make this music live and be as authentic in interpretation as she can. It is her love of this music that has caused her to record this album. I am thankful she did, for now, I can take those old scores I have and get a better understanding of what the composer was doing. Would that more singers would explore new/old works, and I think it would be far more interesting to have them write their impressions of the music they are singing than the standard academic essays we must read. Reading about how she came to this music, in her own words, gave a different dimension to listening. Now I was listening to see if she was successful in communicating what she felt this music had to offer. SHE WAS.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Deserving Grammy Winner, February 24, 2001

By 

Tom Williams (Redondo Beach, Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cecilia Bartoli: The Vivaldi Album (Audio CD)

Like all Bartoli fans, I was ready for some fairly remarkable things when first informed, more than two years ago, that the "Vivaldi" project was in the works. Cecilia's inspired treatment of "Agitata da due venti" on the "Live in Italy" album. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the journey in store on this CD. The familiarity, (thematically, at least) with the opening number,"Dell aura al sussurrar" only begins to open the door to vistas even dedicated Vivaldi lovers had never seen. Proceeding through the set, which, by the way, includes no fewer than SIX world premiere recordings, Cecilia stuns with the rapid-fire coloratura of "Sventurata navicella" and "Anch il par mar sommerga", brings her luscious, focused sound to "Zeffiretti che sussurate" and "Dite oime", and in between, brings to life songs which, while never achieving the poetic heights of those by some other composers, nonetheless provide a musical challenge which only a singer of Bartoli's particular talents (or perhaps someone like Natalie Dessay?) could surmount. Having had the good fortune to see her do most of this set live in Boston in October,2000, I find the comparisons between the live recital performance and this ablum inevitable but the recording, benefiting from the virtuosity of the musicians of Il Gardino Armonico, is more satisfying sonically. No one can match Cecilia Bartoli for sheer excitement on stage, her charisma is unmatched, but this CD is as close as one can get to actually being there for one of the most exciting performances in recent memory.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cecilia and Vivaldi, August 25, 2002

By 

stardustraven "stardustraven" (Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cecilia Bartoli: The Vivaldi Album (Audio CD)

Since I prefer music which was composed before 1750, I was very glad with the purchase of Cecilia Bartoli's Vivaldi album. Although this disc is definitely an interesting and wonderful recording, it's not without its flaws. Cecilia Bartoli presents here to the listener a compilation of Vivaldi's neglected opera arias. Ms. Bartoli's treatment of these arias [which she has researched herself] is certainly fresh and appealing. For the singer and her listener this music is certainly demanding. The music requires of Cecilia Bartoli to go from rapid fire passionate outbursts to tender pianissimo's.

The listener should further take into account that the composers of the Baroque period were certainly not above re-using music scores. This disc provides the listener with two clear examples of such practices. In the first aria 'Dell'aura al sussurrar' we hear the beginning of the 'Spring' concerto of 'The Four Seasons' and in 'Gelido in ogna vena', music from 'The Winter' was used. Cecilia Bartoli's interpretation of these pieces is heartfelt, passionate, intense and tender [she's certainly well-matched with Vivaldi's acrobatics]. But sometimes as in the second aria 'Dopo un'orrida procella' the fireworks of Vivaldi leave her a bit hoarse and out of breath. Il Giardino Armonico conducted by Giovanni Antonini lend her an excellent and spirited support. Furthermore she is joined in the first aria by the Arnold Schoenberg Choir.

However, this is a great disc and some of my favourites here are: 'Dopo un'orrida procella', her tender and wonderful rendition of 'Zeffiretti che sussurate' with beautiful echo effects (which were often used for Baroque music), 'Gelido in ogni vena', the storm aria 'Anch'il mar par che sommerga' or the martial aria 'Di trombe guerriere'. The accompanying booklet contains information about Vivaldi, Cecilia Bartoli, Il Giardino Armonico and provides the lyrics with translations.

Definitely a disc by Cecilia to own.

by stardustraven