Vivaldi's vocal music

Started by Elgarian, June 15, 2009, 12:09:16 PM

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DarkAngel

#20
Quote from: Elgarian on June 16, 2009, 06:53:51 AM
I'm doomed, I tell you all. Doomed!

2. Quite separately there's the issue of whether to try one of the Opus 111 operas, and I much appreciate what everyone's saying here. OK, I might just be able to squeeze one of those out before the end of the month. So which should I get? Orlando Furioso?

Thanks to everyone for your help. Confusing it may still be at present, but all your suggestions have been valuable.

How does one choose when there are so many great performances, but if you force me to select one:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcwtVxRNTnY&feature=related

For some reason Orlando Finto Pazzo struck me as having the most dramatic and spectacular arias, they will really amaze you!
There may be some who find this work too dramatic and ornamented, puts great demands on the vocalist technical ability and artistic creativity, wonderful interplay between vocalist and violin in sample above, the story line is impossibly complex so just enjoy the great sounds

This was an early opera for Vivaldi composed during the time of his La Stravaganza concertos, so the orchestral parts very nice on thier own merit.
All of the Naive/Opus 111 opera releases are very good and will not disappoint so look for the best deal possible........

Coopmv

#21
I found these LP-sets by Vittorio Negri I bought years ago excellent, though I do not have any of them on CD ...


DarkAngel

#22


Besides the excellent Naive/Opus 111 series of Vivaldi operas this Biondi/Virgin Bajazet should definitely be purchased.
I wish Biondi would do more operas because this is a first class performance with great intimate sound and a stellar cast.

What really is a great selling point is the bonus DVD showing arias performed during recording sessions by the vocalists.
Very interesting to see orchestra layout and instruments used, Biondi plays violin standing up leading orchestra next to vocalist.
Each singer has unique personality that shows through while singing, some are very animated even during recording session like
Marijana Mijanovic......others more controlled physically. Also like to see facial expressions when singing, they should have bonus DVD with all new opera sets.......great idea! (naive are you listening)

You Tube has the Mijanovic aria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-j8ZQoTgvg

Elgarian

Belated thanks for that last recommendation, DA.

OK, this arrived a couple of days ago. I eventually chose it because Kozena is singing Juditha, and her involvement swung the decision:



I haven't actually sat down and listened to it with the libretto yet - I've just had it playing around the house, at lunchtime, or pottering about etc; I just wanted to get the 'feel' of it. The acoustic is very strange and takes some getting used to. It's as if the singers were recorded in an entirely different and much more reverberent acoustic than the instruments. Is this a characteristic of these Opus111 recordings? Or just this one in particular?

The music itself is completely new to me - apart from the Gloria, this is the first Vivaldi vocal work I've ever heard. It's going to take me a while to get my bearings. Would it be a really stupid thing to imagine a line, with Monteverdi at one end, and Handel at the other, and put this Vivaldi about 3/4 of the way along the line, nearer to the Handel end? I think I'm going to enjoy it, though there seems to be rather more over-vigorous screeching sometimes than I might like. Not sure if that's Vivaldi in general or just the generally violent character of the plot that's responsible. But anyway, I'm on the road. I'm not switched off; and I'm pondering getting hold of Orlando Furioso as a follow-up. Thanks to everyone whose help got me this far.

DarkAngel

Great buy......we need some people to discuss Vivaldi vocal  :D

The Juditha you bought is technically an oratorio but it sounds no different really than the Vivaldi operas.
You are not imagining things with more dramatic vocal techniques and exciting ornaments, that is generally true of all
Vivaldi operas and not unique to this work, many parts were created for castrati and technically very challenging for todays vocalists........may take some adjustment period but the danger is now other works will begin to sound reserved by comparison  >:D

The sound quality is typical of Naive/Opus 111 which allows a sense of space of the recording venue to show through, I find it very natural to sometimes hear sustained reverb or echo of notes, creates a vivid 3D space for me.

We should keep in mind that Handel and Vivaldi both were composing Italian operas during same period 1710-40 and I suspect that Handels travel/study/employment in Italy influenced his vigorous early opera/cantata style.


Anne


"I'm pondering getting hold of Orlando Furioso as a follow-up"

There is a video of Orlando Furioso with Marilyn Horne singing.  She is a wonderful mezzo and often sang with Luciano Pavarotti and/or Joan Sutherland.  They're not singing in Orlando Furioso.  I don't know if that opera has been transferred to DVD yet.

Elgarian

Well, people, this has clinched it for me:



Hyperion have a special sale on right now, in which all their prices are reduced very substantially. And this box set that I've been contemplating buying has been reduced from its normal price to £66. So what, you might say. It can be bought on Amazon for less than that. Not so. All orders from the Hyperion website over £60 get a 25% discount, so when you check out, you find that this box of 11 CDs is yours for less then £50.

I listened again to many of the samples (there's a sample of every track). I think they are really lovely - and I know that doubt has been shed here on the Kings Consort versions of this music, but I can't resist this. I'm going to go with my gut feeling. I've ordered a box.

Hyperion website:
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/Default.asp

DarkAngel

Quote from: Elgarian on July 01, 2009, 09:25:13 AM
Well, people, this has clinched it for me:



Hyperion have a special sale on right now, in which all their prices are reduced very substantially. And this box set that I've been contemplating buying has been reduced from its normal price to £66. So what, you might say. It can be bought on Amazon for less than that. Not so. All orders from the Hyperion website over £60 get a 25% discount, so when you check out, you find that this box of 11 CDs is yours for less then £50.

I listened again to many of the samples (there's a sample of every track). I think they are really lovely - and I know that doubt has been shed here on the Kings Consort versions of this music, but I can't resist this. I'm going to go with my gut feeling. I've ordered a box.

Hyperion website:
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/Default.asp

Congratulations..........but now we may have to wait weeks to get you comments on the Curtis/Virgin boxset of Handel operas   >:D

Elgarian

Quote from: DarkAngel on July 01, 2009, 12:42:51 PM
Congratulations..........but now we may have to wait weeks to get you comments on the Curtis/Virgin boxset of Handel operas   >:D

Maybe not. I've now finished printing out all the librettos from the CDrom, so actually I'm ready to go!

Coopmv

Quote from: Elgarian on July 01, 2009, 01:24:55 PM
Maybe not. I've now finished printing out all the librettos from the CDrom, so actually I'm ready to go!

Wait a minute, Elgarian, aren't you a member of the paperless society?    ;D

Elgarian

Quote from: Coopmv on July 03, 2009, 03:43:20 PM
Wait a minute, Elgarian, aren't you a member of the paperless society?    ;D

Yes of course. I'm just completing my 5-volume book on the subject.

Elgarian



Imagine for a moment your favourite chocolate bar - let's say, for the sake of argument, a Mars bar. Let's eat one. Delicious. Let's eat another; ah, not so good. We feel slightly sick. And we know the calories and the fat are not good for us. Let's eat another? No, we feel sick just thinking about it.

Now suppose that someone invented a Mars bar that didn't make you sick; that wasn't packed full of fat and calories, that made you feel better and better the more you ate? Wouldn't that be good?

Well, this 11-CD Hyperion box set of Vivaldi's sacred music is the musical equivalent of a boxful of such perpetual non-sickmaking delicious Mars bars. Almost every piece bursts with a kind of joy - sometimes exciting, sometimes passionate, sometimes calm, sometimes piercingly beautiful, and always different. There's no trace, anywhere, of stuffy nonsense. I play each CD thinking 'OK, it's bound to start wearing thin soon.' But it doesn't. It gets better the more I listen. What an utterly fabulous purchase this is turning out to be. I haven't even taken the trouble to read what it is I'm listening to, yet. I just listen to each CD in turn, without knowing. Sometime soon I'll do some reading, do some sorting out. But till then, these voices, these strings, these rhythms are filling my days, making me glow.


DarkAngel

#32
Vivaldi needs more respect on this forum......thanks for the insights on the sacred works boxset!

Have you ever wondered how Vivaldi was able to compose all these works in one short lifetime using quill pen and parchment
hand writing?

40-50 operas
several hundred concertos
huge body of sacred works

Astonishing amount of work.............. :o

The new erato

Quote from: DarkAngel on July 06, 2009, 01:35:01 PM
Vivaldi needs more respect on this forum......thanks for the insights on the sacred works boxset!

Have you ever wondered how Vivaldi was able to compose all these works in one short lifetime using quill pen and parchment
hand writing?

40-50 operas
several hundred concertos
huge body of scared works

Astonishing amount of work.............. :o
I'm sure robnewman has something to suggest..... ;D

Coopmv

Quote from: DarkAngel on July 06, 2009, 01:35:01 PM
Vivaldi needs more respect on this forum......thanks for the insights on the sacred works boxset!


The Red Priest has received tons of respect from me since I have had sizable number of CD's and LP's of his works for some times now ...

Elgarian

Presto Classical are offering 20% off all Naive and Harmonia Mundi titles until September. That includes all the Vivalid opera sets.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/naive.php

The new erato

Quote from: Elgarian on August 05, 2009, 01:33:25 AM
Presto Classical are offering 20% off all Naive and Harmonia Mundi titles until September. That includes all the Vivalid opera sets.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/naive.php
I thought it was up to 30% on HM.....

Elgarian


DarkAngel

#38
Quote from: erato on July 06, 2009, 01:43:02 PM
I'm sure robnewman has something to suggest..... ;D

Even though Vivaldi lived to an old age for the time at 63, his early years were spent training for the priest hood and did not begin composing music till @ age 27 with his opus 1 concerto set 1705. His body of work compiled by RV catalog lists 800+ sonatas, concertos, sacred works, operas (46)

So active composing years were only about 36, he needed about 20-25 works per year to compile his listed 800+ catalog.
Not impossible to imagine 2 compositions a month for a skilled composer, especially if you don't re-invent the wheel everytime and rework
previous material or in opera use pastiche style

So I guess I am answering my earlier question and saying it is not as impossible as I first thought, just an
amazing output for one man who seemed endlessly inspired

DarkAngel

Also for reference Mozart died age 35, time of  active composing was @ 27 years, and his K catalog lists 626 works.

That would require almost the same rate of compostion as Vivaldi, so in those days 20-30 works a year seems to be possible
for very skilled and inspired composer