Heroes - Vivaldi Opera Arias

MUSICWEB.CO.UK DISC OF THE MONTH FEBRUARY 2007

"With a top-notch recording and unequivocally first-rate playing from Ensemble Matheus, Jaroussky and Spinosi have come up with a really outstanding disc of Vivaldi dramatic arias."
(International Record Review March 2007)

"This CD featuring arias from Vivaldi operas is easily one of the most impressive recitals by a countertenor of the past decade. I have rarely heard such blazingly virtuosic and dramatically alive singing from a countertenor (try track 6 "Fra le procelle" for a perfect example of impeccably sung and characterised coloratura). Jaroussky sings these severely taxing arias, with their extremes of range and explosions of rapid-fire coloratura, as if they were the easiest thing in the world. It's not all vocal fireworks, however, throughout the recital there a number of slower arias such as "Vedro con mio diletto" which I find heartbreakingly beautiful. Jaroussky is a very talented young singer and this disc is a great way to get to know Vivaldi's range as an opera composer." (Keith@Marbecks)

Philippe Jaroussky's new recital disc, a compendium of some of Vivaldi's most beautiful opera arias for the alto and soprano voice presents a comprehensive sample of nearly 3 decades of Vivaldi's operatic activity and explores many different aspects of a fascinating opus that is still largely unknown.

The majority of these opera arias were written for famous castrati of Vivaldi's time: Giovanni Battista Minelli, Andrea Pacini, Francesco Natali, Giovanni Ossi… to mention but a few.

The disc brings together the "sublime and the tender" alternating virtuoso arie di furore e di tempesta with enchanting and poignant melodies each nurtured by Philippe Jaroussky's intense dramatic qualities.
Since Cecilia Bartoli's Vivaldi album, no one has dared record this repertoire: Philippe Jaroussky takes up the challenge!

Philippe Jaroussky is accompanied by award-winning Baroque conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi, and his ensemble Matheus, with whom Philippe often performs.

"Glamorous French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky is very much the new kid on the block as far as baroque music is concerned, and his disc of Vivaldi arias capitalises on his growing reputation as both a vocal star and something of a sex symbol. The programme alternates macho coloratura numbers with suggestive nocturnes, many of them about the pleasures of erotic dreams and fantasies - though the title, "Heroes", is a bit of a blind, since some of the music was written for female characters. His technique is often staggering, and his breath-control in such languid numbers as the big aria from L'Olimpiade will leave you open-mouthed. There's some exquisite playing from the Ensemble Matheus under Jean-Christophe Spinosi, too." 4 stars out of 5 GUARDIAN.CO.UK

"Philippe Jaroussky is one of the best countertenors around. His voice is mellow, evenly toned, wide-ranging and largely free from intrusive mannerism and vocal strain. [...]. A wonderful recital. Bravo!"
Performance: *****, Sound: ****
Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine, 02/2007

"Jaroussky proves a most eloquent exponent of Vivaldian opera in this astutely chosen selection of arias. There's often debate - sometimes fruitful and sometimes futile - as to what kind of counter-tenor we are dealing with. With Daniels, Scholl and the like we can range freely over just what kind of colour they evoke, just where the voice is strongest, richest and most voluptuous and penetrating - whether there are mezzo tints or whatever. Jaroussky is in a sense rather simpler to place. He has a voice that is most powerful - remarkably even phenomenally so - at the top of its range. It's a very feminine voice as well, explicitly so in timbre, and one capable of the most fluid and athletic technical control - some of the divisions are taken with rapier like incision and pitching and unholy assurance. Yet it's when he sings slowly and softly that the full range of his expressive control becomes apparent. Vedro con mio diletto from Giustino is sung with limpid diminuendi and followed by subtle off beat accompaniment by the fine Ensemble Matheus under Jean-Christophe Spinosi. These qualities are only reinforced by the gorgeously liquid legato in Mentre dormi amor fomenti. He projects with surety and never uses texts for anything less than musical reasons - no vowel elongations or over crisply detonated consonants for example. Throughout he maintains real beauty of tone. He takes even so difficult an aria as Frà le procelle with excellent breath control and pinpoint accuracy. Jaroussky is accompanied by a violin soloist, presumably Spinosi himself, in Sovente il sole, the most extensive aria here - it's slow, full of colour and sensitive shading and more trademark divisions surmounted with eye popping ease. Perhaps inevitably one hears that in Sperai vicino il lido the lower part of the voice is slightly less resonant than is ideal. Still the clarion top, so fluted and precisely soprano in orientation, reasserts itself in Farà la mia spada and evidence that Jaroussky can fine down his tone and the speed of his vibrato comes in Sento in seno. In short this is a most convincing and successful recital -varied and nuanced. Ensemble Matheus prove ever-sensitive colleagues with instrumental strands of colour and definition. The texts are in Italian, German, English and French. Most impressive all round." Jonathan Woolf (MUSICWEB.CO.UK)

'A beautifully executed and wisely chosen programme that sits comfortably among the best of its type.' Gramophone