Scarlatti: Cantatas & Chamber Music

Clara Rottsolk (Artist), Alessandro Scarlatti (Composer), Tempesta di Mare Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Tempesta di Mare Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra
• Composer: Alessandro Scarlatti
• Audio CD (April 27, 2010)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: CHANDOS CHACONNE
• ASIN: B0039OR6TW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #449,240 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The soprano Clara Rottsolk joins Tempesta di Mare Chamber Players for a disc of cantatas and instrumental music by Alessandro Scarlatti. Though his cantatas and operas are little known today Scarlatti was a titan in his time, closely associated with Rome's Arcadian Academy and an inspiration to the much younger Handel, a frequent visitor to the Academy.

Scarlatti's specialty was the cantata, the operatic equivalent of the short story, in which music and narrative are distilled to their core, resulting in beautiful and moving yet succinct multi-movement vocal works. Tempesta di Mare has programmed four rarely performed Scarlatti cantatas, the Quella pace gradita, Bella dama di nome Santa, Non sò qual più m'ingombra (Cantata Pastorale) and Bella, s'io t'amo alongside Concerto IX in A minor.

'We chose these cantatas to show the range of things that Scarlatti does with one voice and a small complement of instruments', says Gwyn Roberts, artistic co-director of Tempesta di Mare. The cantatas are complemented by a concerto. Scarlatti's instrumental music, like the vocal music, is much more concerned with the intricate interweaving of voices and the subtle detail of line than it is with raw virtuosity. Concerto IX, which appears in a manuscript collection dated 1725 (the year of Scarlatti's death) certainly bears this out. Scarlatti's use of the recorder, both here and in the rest of the programme, reflects the recorder's great popularity throughout most of Scarlatti's career.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Daring harmonies in Arcadia, June 9, 2010

By 

Berna Can (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scarlatti: Cantatas & Chamber Music (Audio CD)

Numbering at over six hundred compositions, Alessandro Scarlatti's chamber cantatas are a daunting legacy to come to terms with. Not only is their sheer quantity a staggering achievement even for the composer's infamously prolific age, but the inventiveness, experimentation, and harmonic daring Scarlatti brought to bear on his cantatas was the stuff of legend in the his time. Needless to say, recent excavations of this oeuvre have barely scratched the surface of what consistently proves to be beautiful and intriguing music from a composer who never seems to have had an off day. Two of the cantatas on this disc have recorder accompaniment, and the other two feature violins. While none of the cantatas are recorded here for the first time (although the recitative to Bella, s'io t'amo il sai is a new discovery, and is now the title of the cantata formerly known as Ardo e ver per te d'amore), Clara Rottsolk is a fresh and charming advocate of these intimate works. Hers is the kind of sweetly pure voice--which is not to say it lacks character--that is becoming rare in the early music world as singers increasingly value darker-hued voices and dramatic vibrato. A warm and vibrant performance by all.