Iván Fischer conducts and stages Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo at the stunning Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. Fischer has reconstructed the original ending by composing the music himself, based on the libretto of the first performance of the opera called La favola d’Orfeo. The splendid cast, among them young Hungarian soprano Emoke Baráth and Baroque specialist Núria Rial is accompanied by the excellent playing Budapest Festival Orchestra. “Absolutely worth seeing and listening to“ praises Neue Musikzeitung.
Monteverdi, Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers of the Blessed Virgin)
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) contributed more to the music of his time than any other composer: he perfected the art of the madrigal, gave decisive impulses to the young genre of the opera by his imaginative use of descriptive and dramatic effects and by giving each figure an individual character, and introduced the expressive language of secular music into the rigid sacred music of his time. In his “Marian Vespers,” composed in Mantua in 1610, Monteverdi combined elements from the traditional church music style with the new “stile concertato” and polychoral forms, but also boldly made use of Gregorian chant. Whether for solo voice and continuo, for chorus a cappella or for the mighty forces of the chorus and orchestra – Monteverdi cast each single piece in the Marian Vespers in its own mould, thereby obtaining an expressive diversity within a stylistically unified framework. Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Concentus musicus are the ideal interpreters of Monteverdi’s music. Their year-long specialization in the field of early music and original performance practice guarantees an authoritative and gripping interpretation. The concert was recorded at the Baroque Cathedral of Graz, Austria, in 1986.
Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria
In a rare display of unanimous praise, international music critics rated this cycle one of the greatest operatic events of its time. Although Monteverdi played a truly important role in the development of opera, only few major opera houses have ventured to present these three Baroque masterpieces. Years of intensive study by conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, not only of the transmitted scores but also of the instruments used in Monteverdi’s time, were necessary to provide a basis for the exceptionally high standard of the Zurich productions. Just how meticulously Harnoncourt and the celebrated stage director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle prepared themselves is made partly clear by the fact that the orchestra exclusively played original 17th-century instruments and specially-made copies for these productions. This in turn meant that each of the 39 members of the -awaited expansion of the standard opera repertoire had successfully been realized. What makes the Monteverdi cycle a unique project is the certainty that it can never again be repeated with quite the same quality and feeling.
L’Incoronazione di Poppea
In a rare display of unanimous praise, international music critics rated this cycle one of the greatest operatic events of its time. Although Monteverdi played a truly important role in the development of opera, only few major opera houses have ventured to present these three Baroque masterpieces. Years of intensive study by conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, not only of the transmitted scores but also of the instruments used in Monteverdi’s time, were necessary to provide a basis for the exceptionally high standard of the Zurich productions. Just how meticulously Harnoncourt and the celebrated stage director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle prepared themselves is made partly clear by the fact that the orchestra exclusively played original 17th-century instruments and specially-made copies for these productions. This in turn meant that each of the 39 members of the orchestra needed the qualifications of a soloist. It was not by accident that the recordings of all three productions won top international awards. This was simply further proof that a long-awaited expansion of the standard opera repertoire had successfully been realized. What makes the Monteverdi cycle a unique project is the certainty that it can never again be repeated with quite the same quality and feeling.
L’Orfeo
Monteverdi’s first opera “L’Orfeo”, one of the earliest operas in the history of the genre, composed for Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua and performed in 1607, unfolds before our eyes through a perfect harmony of theater, dance, opera, music and film. The camera shows us every minute detail of an imaginary court entertainment in Northern Italy at the beginning of the 17th century; and through this attention to detail, we too are drawn into the entertainment. The now legendary Zurich Monteverdi cycle, consisting of three productions of Monteverdi’s only surviving operas (“L’Orfeo”, “The Coronation of Poppea” and “The Return of Ulysses”) mounted in the Zurich Opera House during the late 1970s, is one of the finest achievements of the mutually inspiring partnership of director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt. With sets of startling visual appeal by Ponnelle himself, lovingly recreated period costumes by Pet Halmen, these productions are pure delight. The Zurich productions were shown in Hamburg, Vienna, Edinburgh, Berlin, Milan, Wiesbaden and Munich. The orchestra plays exclusively on original instruments or carefully reconstructed copies.
Salzburg Festival 2016: Missa Salisburgensis
One of the supreme masterworks of Baroque polyphony, the Missa Salisburgensis by composer-violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber is performed in the Salzburg Cathedral – the very building where it was first heard. Biber’s Mass was specifically designed to exploit the acoustics and architecture of the Cathedral and is here presented in authentic 360° surround sound, bringing into play all four of the Cathedral’s organs. Performed by the renowned Prague-based period ensembles Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 under their founder-director Václav Luks, Biber’s Mass is prefaced by a selection of sacred choral works by Monteverdi, masterpieces that are equally suited to the Italianate splendor of Salzburg’s Cathedral. “An extravagant but joyous enterprise, a real festival event. Long will this spectacular Mass continue to resound in my memory” (Salzburger Nachrichten).
Salzburg Festival 2018: L’incoronazione di Poppea
In his first opera staging, Jan Lauwers shines new light on Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburg Festival. His ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ captures the dizzying power games between Poppea and Nerone, superbly performed by Sonya Yoncheva and Kate Lindsey, while striking imagery is created by the SEAD Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance and the BODHI PROJECT. Conductor William Christie proves once again that he is “most delicate of all experts of early music” (Merkur). “The love duet between Poppea and Nero is one of the most tender in opera history and of infinite magic.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Monteverdi in Saint-Denis
After speaking with her for one and a half minutes, I knew that I would even sing Heavy Metal for her if she wanted me to,’ gushed Rolando Villazón after meeting French conductor and harpsichordist Emmanuelle Haïm. Devoted to cultivating the works of Monteverdi, Handel, Rameau and Purcell, the vibrant Haïm has become one of the leading lights of the Early Music scene. Trained as a pianist and harpsichordist in Paris, she assisted William Christie before founding her own ensemble ‘Le Concert d’Astrée,’ which performs on historical instruments. Rolando Villazón is better known for his performances as tormented lover and ‘dream’ partner of Anna Netrebko in ‘La Traviata’ and ‘La Bohème’ (both available from UNITEL CLASSICA) than for his accounts of early Baroque music. But in this concert of works by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), the powerhouse tenor proves his allround mastery of italianità. The main work is the ‘Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda,’ a descriptive piece for three voices based on a text from Torquato Tasso’s epic poem ‘Gerusalemme liberata.’
Vespro della beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin)
Raphaël Pichon and his ensemble Pygmalion join forces with a brilliant group of soloists to present Monteverdi’s monumental Vespro della beata Vergine in a setting as resplendent as the music they are performing: Versailles’s Chapelle Royale. “A masterful interpreter of early music” (BR Klassik)
The Deadly Sins – Angels and Demons in the works of Claudio Monteverdi
In order to honor the anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi’s (1567- 1643) the ensemble Cappella Mediterranea and their founder Leonardo García Alarcón were given the special permission, to perform in an outstanding venue, the Chiesetta del Doge at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice for an unique musical project: The first performance of Monteverdi’s music in more than 300 years at the Doges chapel, the heart of the old Venetian republic, where Monteverdi was the official court composer. Based on the theme of “Angels and Demons” the ensemble perform extracts from Monteverdi’s opera and madrigal compositions. The half-scenic production is staged by Olivier Lexa, founder and artistic director of the Venetian Centre for Baroque Music. The works, illustrate the contrasts of sins and virtues which are beautifully mirrored in Jacopo Guarana’s and Agostino Colonna’s frescos in the Chiesetta del Doge.