| 1 CD |
|
Notify when available |
| Label Ayros |
UPC 5902768283006 |
Catalogue number AYHC 001 |
Release date 14 January 2014 |
""Contrasto Armonico" records Handel's complete, Italian cantatas, magnificent compositions with instrumental accompaniment by an ensemble, or only with basso continuo. An ambitious project from Ayros."
Stretto, 27-6-2019Handel’s cantatas represent an important musical repertoire that until recently has been little known. Consisting of about 100 separate works, most were written over a period of a few years for private performance in Italy.
They range from musical miniatures containing only two arias connected by recitative and accompanied by continuo (a bass line typically realized by cello and harpsichord) to larger works with named characters, a dramatic story, and rich instrumental forces. Telling more often than not about the pangs of love, these are intimate works, with texts frequently written by (and sometimes about) members of the privileged audience for which they were composed. A number of Handel’s cantatas have texts by one of his important Italian patrons, Cardinal Benedetto Pamphilj.
The project of Marco Vitale to record all of Handel’s cantatas is thrilling. The continuo cantatas have never been recorded in full and many have never been recorded at all. Thus, this project will bring to life largely unknown music by one of the world’s greatest composers. Further, performance all the cantatas will place the larger, instrumental works in the musical context of their creation.
This project is the continuation of the ‘Handel Complete Cantatas’ series appeared recently on the market with four volumes issued. This is the first volume presented by the ayros recording label, as continuation of the series . This CD features the great soprano Roberta Mameli, an acclaimed specialist of the Handel repertoire and it includes the wonderful cantatas “Notte placida e cheta” and “Armida abbandonata”.
Born in Rome, Roberta Mameli, graduated in singing at the Conservatoire “Nicolini” in Piacenza and in violin at the Scuola Civica di Cremona. She attended masterclasses with Konrad Richter, Bernadette Manca di Nissa, Ugo Benelli, Claudio Desderi, Enzo Dara.
She made her debut at a very young age singing Mercury in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Opera Theatre in Alessandria, under the baton of Edoardo Müller and the direction of Graziella Sciutti.
Her concert repertoire ranges from baroque to 20th century music, including: Vivaldi’s Gloria, Fauré’s Requiem, Exultate jubilate, and C-minor Mass by Mozart, Laudate pueri by Caldara, Matthäus-Passion and B-minor Mass by Bach, Messiah, Dixit Dominus and Laudate Pueri by Handel, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Orff’s Carmina Burana.
She is regularly invited in prestigious theatres and music halls such as: Konzerthaus in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Cité de la Musique in Paris, Velodrom Theatre in Regensburg, Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona, Teatro La Pergola in Florence, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Teatro Sociale and Teatro Bibiena in Mantua, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Teatro Municipale in Piacenza, Teatro Comunale in Modena, Teatro Comunale in Ferrara, Teatro Dal Verme in Milan. She sang under the baton of important conductors such as: Claudio Abbado, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Fabio Bonizzoni, Filippo Maria Bressan, Daniele Callegari, Claudio Cavina, Enzo Dara, Corrado Rovaris, Tiziano Severini, Jeffrey Tate.
Much in demand in the baroque repertoire, Roberta Mameli has worked with many baroque ensembles, such as Ensemble Sacro & Profano, Aurora Ensemble, Bizzarrie Armoniche, L’Arte dell’Arco, La Risonanza, Ensemble Inégal, La Venexiana, Accademia Bizantina, performing in many festivals all around Europe: Styriarte Graz, Grandezze e Meraviglie Festival in Modena, Freiburg Festival, Regensburg Festival, La Folle Journée in Nantes, Bruges Festival, Utrecht Festival, Dortmund Festival, Leipzig, Postdam, Hannover, Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, Festival de Royaumont, Les Heures des Bernardins Festival in Paris, Trigonale in Cologne, Fränkische Sommer in Nuremberg, International Festival in Santander.
Among her past engagements, it is worth mentioning: Paisiello’s Il fanatico in berlina in Mantua, Enzo Dara directing; Mozart’s La finta giardiniera (Sandrina) by Mozart in Modena, Genoa and Saint Malo; Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and Il Ballo delle Ingrate by Monteverdi at the Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona and at the Regensburg Festival; Cherubini’s Ifigenia in Aulide by Cherubini with the Orchestra Arturo Toscanini under the baton of Tiziano Severini in Parma and Modena; Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista (Herodiade) with Enrico Gatti at the festivals of Utrecht, Viterbo and La Chaise-Dieu; Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nerone) with Claudio Cavina in Hannover, Regensburg, Paris (Cité de la musique) and Milan; Orfeo ed Euridice (Proserpina) by Fux with Jordi Savall at the Styriarte Festival in Graz; Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Prologo, Musica, Euridice) at the Santander Festival.
Future plans include:, L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Nerone) in Perigueux and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (Minerva) in Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Paris (Cité de la musique) and Regensburg, Cavalli’s Erismena with La Venexiana and Claudio Cavina; Pergolesi’s L’Olimpiade (Aristea) by Pergolesi in Krakow with Accademia Bizantina and Ottavio Dantone; Handel’s Ariodante (Ginevra) at the Händel-Festspiele in Karlsruhe under Michael Hofstetter.
She recorded for labels such as Bongiovanni, Pardon, Nibiru, Glossa and RAI 3. Her recent discography includes: Monteverdi’s Madrigals and L’incoronazione di Poppea with La Venexiana (Glossa), Zelenka’s Il diamante with Ensemble Inégal (Nibiru) and the solo album “’Round M: Monteverdi meets Jazz”.
Stefan Plewniak - violinist and conductor, received his training in is hometown, Krakow, where he studied with prof. B. Śliwicka-Wysocka at the Krakow Academy of Music. He continued his studies with prof. I.Strauss in Prague Music Academy, prof. R. Szreder at Maastricht Conservatory and prof F. Fernandez at Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris.
His interest in baroque music was sparked during collaboration with Les Gôuts Reunis ensemble in the Netherlands. Subsequently, he has performed with many significant ensembles and orchestras, such as Kammeroper Köln, Warsaw Polish Radio Orchestra and Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra.
He collaborated with many renowned ensembles as a concertmaster in den Hague, Paris and Salzburg. He also cooperated with leading orchestras in Europe such as William Christie's Les Arts Florissants in Paris and Jordi Savall's Le Concert des Nations in Barcelona.
He is the founder of Il Giardino d'Amore orchestra in Vienna/ Cracow and Capella dell’ Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. In 2016 he founded new symphony orchestra The FeelHarmony.
He appeared as a soloist and leader at many important festivals in Europe, USA and China, among others Oude Muzik Festival Utrecht, Bach Festival Vienna, Tartini Festival Pirano, Styriarte Festival Graz, Early Music Celebration New York. He made his debut as a soloist in Mozarteum Salzburg and New York Carnegie Hall in 2014. Stefan Plewniak regularly presents masterclasses in Oslo, Norway as well as at the University of South California in L.A. and San Diego.
He is specializing in the opera and ballet repertoire.
Marco Vitale was born in Palermo (Italy) in 1980.
He studied piano, organ, harpsichord and composition at Palermo’s “V. Bellini” Conservatory, where he took the piano diploma in 2001 and the organ diploma in 2002 with full marks and “Cum Laude”.
He took part in many international master-classes where he developed his skills and taste for baroque music. His concert life began at age of 15, with performances as a soloist and chamber musician. In 2002 he moved to The Netherlands where he studied at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
He took a Bachelor’s degree in organ with Jos van der Kooy and a Master in Early Music (harpsichord) with Ton Koopman.
His musical activity brought him to play in the most prestigious venues and festivals in Europe, USA, Canada and Middle East as a soloist/continuo player or director of his Contrasto Armonico.
Marco Vitale is the co-founder and musical director of “Contrasto Armonico”, baroque orchestra specialized in the performance of music in Italian style and baroque operas, using original instruments and historical performance practices. He is currently involved in the recordings of the Complete Italian Cantatas by Handel (formerly on Brilliant Classics, now on ayros), a thrilling project that will bring light on many undiscovered jewels of Handel which are neither edited nor recorded.
He appeared in radio and TV broadcasts in Netherlands (AVRO), Germany, Austria (ORF), Spain, Poland (Polskie Radio), Italy (RAI), UK (BBC) and Syria (Syrian National Television), and he participated in recordings for Alia Vox (Rameau, L’Orchestre de Louis XV), and Naïve (Vivaldi’s Teuzzone).
In 2012 he founded his own records label ‘ayros’, featuring recordings of Contrasto Armonico, with whom is continuing the project of Handel Complete Cantatas and starting new thrilling discographic projects. In addition to performing with Contrasto Armonico he also gives master-classes about baroque music throughout Europe and Middle East. From 2008 till 2011 he worked at the Higher Institute of Music of Damascus (Syria) for an early music development project.
In 2018 he composed an opera in 17th century style, with the title of “Il ratto di Helena” on a libretto by Virgilio Puccitelli (1636). The opera was commissioned by the Palace of Grandukes of Lithuania, and performed in Vilnius in occasion of the 100 years of Lithuanian independence.
He regularly performs with Jordi Savall, ‘Le Concert des Nations & Hesperion XXI and worked as a guest conductor at Warsaw Chamber Opera.
Georg Frideric Handel was a composer from the Baroque period. Handel wrote primarily music-dramatic works: 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, which comes to a total amount of almost 2000 arias! Furthermore, he composed English, Italian and Latin sacred music, serenades and odes. Among his instrumental music are several organ concertos, concerti grossi, overtures, oboe sonatas and violinsonates, along with many solo works for harpsichord and organ.
Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today.
Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann and Scarlatti, Handel was by far the most cosmopolitan. When Handel was a child, his father, who was a surgeon at the court of Saxe-Weissenfels, imagined a juridical career for him. But his musical talents did not go unnoticed at the court, which forced the father to let him study music. In Hamburg, Handel befriended Mattheson. Together they visited Buxtehude, the greatest organ player of his time, in 1703 (two years before Bach did). At that time, Handel was already an excellent musician, but it wasn't until his stay in Italy - the land of opera - that his talents and skills truly started to flourish. Back in Germany, he received a position at the court of Hannover, where the noblemen had a connection to the British throne. Thanks to these connections, Handel decided to move to London, after which a puzzling history of intrigues and political games started. For example, it is unclear what the exact political message of his famous Water Music is, which was composed for a boat ride on the river Thames by King George. Initially, Handel focused on Italian opera during his stay in London, but from the 1730s onwards he started composing English spoken oratorios, with the celebrated Messiah at its peak.
"Contrasto Armonico" records Handel's complete, Italian cantatas, magnificent compositions with instrumental accompaniment by an ensemble, or only with basso continuo. An ambitious project from Ayros.
Stretto, 27-6-2019
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