Mission
$33.00
Out of Stock2-4 weeks add to cart
AGOSTINO STEFFANI
Mission
Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano) / I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis, with Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor)
[ Decca DVD / DVD ]
Release Date: Thursday 6 December 2012
This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.
Suitable for General Audiences
G: - "Bartoli's plummy mezzo soars, smoulders and seduces, milking the music's vocal and expressive scope to dramatic effect. It's hard to resist her sparkling personality and infectious passion for this repertoire" (Five Stars BBC Music)
"Steffani's art is elegantly expressive, Italianate with French dressing...Several brazen display arias are here...Bartoli leaps around the vocal ladder with customary gusto and a rather too vigorous vibrato. The pleasures are subtler when the music is simpler and the voice quieter...Notte amica, say, from La Libertà contenta, or the silky caress of Sfere amiche...These two tracks were definitely worth Bartoli shaving her head." The Times, 21st September 2012 ***
"Bartoli's programming instincts are immaculate in terms of musical and emotional variety; she is compelling in pearly arioso and slow numbers, less so in bravura ones." Sunday Times, 14th October 2012
"she sweeps through 25 numbers flexing her well-rehearsed vocabulary of flighty fioritura, expressive mannerism and tender vocalità. The melting duets with countertenor Philippe Jaroussky are worth hearing" Financial Times, 20th October 2012 **
"Bartoli's vocal mannerisms vex and delight - sometimes simultaneously. But for those seduced by the 2010 Royal Opera House production of Niobe, Regina di Tebe, this selection will be irresistible." The Independent on Sunday, 18th November 2012 ****
"Bartoli's plummy mezzo soars, smoulders and seduces, milking the music's vocal and expressive scope to dramatic effect. It's hard to resist her sparkling personality and infectious passion for this repertoire...the animated playing of I Barocchisti enhance the sheer theatre and scale of Steffani's talent...this is truly a revelatory disc." BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 *****
"Among the opera arias Ms. Bartoli dug up in the archives are some treasures, hypnotic, slow numbers in which voice and accompanying strings circle each other like spinning planets and jubilant vehicles for her rapid-fire coloratura singing. Mr. Fasolis stokes the fire with an impetuous period-instrument ensemble." New York Times, 23rd November 2012
"Bartoli is to be both congratulated and thanked for this project...Her dazzlingly virtuoso and urgently expressive performances betoken nothing less than total commitment, with every single aria delivered with as much dramatic intensity and focus as if it had been lifted straight from a fully staged production...it is hard to know what more one could ask for" Gramophone Magazine, December 2012
"I can't think of another singer who brings such variety of colour, nuance and pathos to slow numbers...Bartoli's performance of the more bravura numbers...is more questionable...Vocal fireworks have always been essential weapons in the Bartoli armoury, but they are now sounding rusty...I don't want to end on a negative note, as there is much to admire and even love here...'Mission' is in every sense a collector's item." International Record Review, December 2012
Tracks:
Non si parli che di fede (from Marco Aurelio)
Morirò fra strazi e scempi (from Henrico Leone)
Timori, ruine (from Le rivali concordi)
Padre, s'è colpa in lui (from Tassilone)
Svenati, struggiti, combatti, suda (from La libertà contenta)
Deh stancati, o sorte (from La libertà contenta)
Dal tuo labbro amor m'invita (from Tassilone)
Serena, o mio bel sole...Mia fiamma/Mio ardore (from Niobe)
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor)
La cerasta più terribile (from La lotta d'Hercole con Acheloo)
Dell'alma stanca a raddolcir le tempre...Sfere amiche, or date al labbro (from Niobe)
Foschi crepuscoli (from La libertà contenta)
Tra le guerre e le vittorie (from La superbia d'Alessandro)
A facile vittoria (from Tassilone)
Combatton quest'alma (from I trionfi del fato)
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor)
Notte amica al cieco Dio (from La libertà contenta)
Si, si, riposa, o caro...Palpitanti sfere belle (from Alarico il Baltha)
Non prendo consiglio (from La superbia d'Alessandro)
Sposa, mancar mi sento...Deh non far colle tue lagrime (from Tassilone)
Mie fide schiere, all'armi!...Suoni, tuoni, il suolo scuota (from I trionfi del fato)
T'abbraccio, mia Diva...Ti stringo, mio Nume (from Niobe)
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor)
Amami, e vederai (from Niobe)
Più non v'ascondo (from Tassilone)
Ove son? Chi m'aita? In mezzo all'ombre...Dal mio petto (from Niobe)
Ogni core può sperar (from Servio Tullio)
Schiere invitte, non tardate (from Alarico il Baltha)
