Ombra Mai Fu - Cavalli Opera Arias

Philippe Jaroussky (counter-tenor) & Ensemble Artaserse

Francesco Cavalli Opera Arias

The French countertenor leads Artaserse in a kaleidoscopic survey of the many and varied operas by the seventeenth-century Italian composer, shot through with the spirit of Venetian carnival.

New album of opera arias and symphonies by Francesco Cavalli, the prolific 17th century Venetian composer with 41 operas to his name, who was Handel’s predecessor in Hannover. Featuring Erato label mates Em?ke Baráth and Marie-Nicole Lemieux , this is the first time Philippe has recorded Cavalli since his guest appearances on Christina Pluhar’s album dedicated to Cavalli, L’Amore innamorato.

Cavalli:
 Alcun piu di me felice non e (from La virtu de Strali d'Amore)
 All'armi, mio core (from Statira, principessa di Persia)
 Che città (from L'Ormindo)
 Che pensi, mio core? (from La virtu de Strali d'Amore)
 Cieche tenebre (from Pompeo Magno)
 Delizie contente
 Doriclea
 Dove mi conducete? ... (from L'Erismena)
 Ecco l'idolo mio ... Mio diletto, mio sospiro (from Elena)
 Elena
 Eliogabalo
 Eritrea
 Erme, e solinghe cime ... Lucidissima face (from La Calisto)
 Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne
 Il Giasone
 Il Xerse
 Interprete mal buona... L'uomo è una dolce cosa (from La Calisto)
 Io resto solo? ... Misero, così va (from Eliogabalo)
 L'Erismena
 L'Ormindo
 La bellezza è un don fugace (from Il Xerse)
 La Calisto
 La virtù de' strali d'Amore
 Misero Apollo (from Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne)
 Ninfa bella (from La Calisto)
 O luci belle (from Eritrea)
 Ohimé, che miro? (from Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne)
 Ombra mai fu (from Il Xerse)
 Pompeo Magno
 Sinfonia (from Doriclea)
 Sinfonia (from Ercole Amante)
 Sinfonia (from L'Orione)
 Statira, principessa di Persia
 Uscitemi dal cor, lacrime amare (from L'Erismena)

"If Handel’s Xerxes has a showmanship, an aesthetic swagger that Cavalli’s lacks in the lilting prettiness of his own ode to a plane tree, we see the Italian’s skill emerge elsewhere – in the delicacy with which he paints grief, loneliness and loss…No one manipulates a ground bass quite so skilfully…Jaroussky too is at his best in these whispery, crooned laments where the voice treads the line between sound and silence.""
Gramophone Magazine - April 2019

"Yes’ if you’re a Jaroussky fan and want to hear him in gorgeous voice; a resounding ‘no’ if you recognize that Cavalli performance norms have moved way beyond those of Leppard’s day."
Opera - June 2019

"Nee, het is niet het overbekende Ombra mai fu van Händel waar de titel van deze cd naar verwijst. De fameuze Franse
countertenor Philippe Jaroussky zet hier Francesco Cavalli in het zonnetje. Deze leerling van Monteverdi was van groot belang voor de vroege Italiaanse opera. Jaroussky schetst met zijn ensemble Artaserse een gevarieerd beeld van deze onderschatte operacomponist en ‘zingt met de grootst mogelijke fi jnzinnigheid en warmte’ (Limelight Magazine). Luister bijvoorbeeld naar het intens klaaglijke Uscitemi dal cor, lacrime amare en wees voor altijd verkocht."
Aangenaam Klassiek 2020