Customer Reviews

Galuppi: Forgotten Arias of a Venetian Master

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It is a mystery to me how the composer, Baldassare Galuppi, can be so little known. The musical compositions included on this disc are stunningly gorgeous. This disc is one that is guaranteed to be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in baroque music. The CD includes some achingly beautiful instrumentals, and some equally lovely vocal pieces. The period instrument ensemble and the soprano singer are both beyond excellent. This is very, very moving and powerful music. I am simply at a loss of words to adequately express how wonderful this recording is. I just didn't want it to end -- 13 tracks is not enough.

One has to wish that this world premiere recording will stir interest for Galuppi and all his musical gems just as the "The Four Seasons" did for Vivaldi about 60 years ago. My hope is that more works like this are brought up to life again.

Like his other contemporaries, Galuppi is distinctly refreshing in style. Setting him apart, his music is playful , unexpectedly teasing, and seriously vibrant without being over the top... not that this bad at all. The instrumental pieces move sweetly in brevity. They are born, grow, flourish, and swiftly leave you longing for more. In indulgence, the arias trek a wantom journey through vocal landscapes that metamorphe at every turn, twist and repeat of the ABA sections. Perhaps this demonstrates Galuppi's love and abandonment in writing for voice. His arias tend to be twice as long too. Galuppi's signature bravuras have distinctive grand openings evocative of a queen making a regal entrance, or a warrior catapulting a vocal leap in crescendo. Such is the case of "Ah di lette da l'onda profonda" found in this album, and "Fiero leon che audace", and "Gira volando la sacra esfera" part of other collections. These arias have the common trademark of perfectly placed pauses, pathos, and presto underlays of cello and lute that unlike the harpsichord convey rapid shifts in mood and urgency . "Ah di lette da l'onda" is Galuppi's complement to Vivaldi's "Agitata da due venti", and Handel's "Combattuta da due venti". This aria zooms out the musical lens to the bigger picture. All are arie de tempesta with a twist. In "Agitata", Vivaldi gives us a peek at the emotional upheaval of La Griselda when her ship is about to sink in the midst of a storm. In "Combattuta", Handel portrays the atrocious storm slapping the ship back and forth without mercy. And in "Ah di lette da l'onda", Galuppi looks at the ominous swells in the water that portends disaster, and ebb with every wave a riptide of inevitable doom and ruin.

Casting Catherine King, who is neither identified as Handelian, Motzartian or Vivaldian to sing the voice compositions gives the right canvas to showcase Galuppi's art. Her intensity and cadence brings to his palette the colors and fioratura originally there. Her voice blends the sultriness and lyric intent of a jazz singer with the fortitude for opera.The same can be said for Marinella Pennicchi, and Sylvia Pozzer for their pioneering talent in trail-blazing the Galuppian style.

Although I had never heard of any of the performers on this album, being a devoted fan of Galuppi's music, I bought a copy. I'm glad I did! Very well executed performances, and Ms. King has a lovely voice. The performers bring a lot to the table here: good ornaments, crisp articulation, stylistic sensitivity, etc.

Forces are a bit small in my opinion, but kudos for achieving such a nice recorded sound despite the fact.

There has been for many years a positive mania for 're-discovering' so-called 'lost operas' and 'forgotten arias'. Opera Rara is a case in point. Their magnificently researched and illustrated booklets are occasionally measurably more enjoyable than the resurrected gem itself. There have, naturally, been works well worth the dig - and Richard Bonynge leads the field. But re-discovering Donizetti was a spoof I enjoyed doing more than twenty years ago with my voice coach when office duties paled.
"Have you heard, Angus, that RB is to premier 'Lyudmila of Gdansk' in the Autumn? He discovered the original score being used to prop up the telly in Lech Walesa's mother-in-law's flat..."
"Can't wait!"
"The libretto features the rather heavy-featured daughter of a dock steelworker who stows aboard her father's ship and is shipwrecked with her Polish lover, whom she doesn't recognise, and a tame parrot..."
"Riveting! And is there a chorus?"
"Well there is a superbly scored tragic interlude as the sailors go down with the ship..."
Et alia, et alia, etcetera...

The truth of the matter - you can shoot me down in flames if you wish - is that most arias are forgotten for a very good reason. They are unmemorable. They are resurrected, revived and recorded today for the sake of novelty.

Galuppi's frequent and rather predictable vocalises do not catch or fire. I cannot imagine anyone punting the canals of Venice in the mid-eighteenth century humming or la-la-ing one of his latest offerings as they did Mozart's in the cobbled streets of Prague at a similar time. Mozart has survived, and one does not have to ask 'Why?'