Dramma - Simone Kermes, La Magnifica Comunita (2012)

Emblazoned on the title page of many an 18th-century Italian opera libretto, “dramma per musica” soon became the name for the operas composed to those words. The name perfectly evokes the fury of passions which the masterpieces of the period captured with such power.

This collection of astonishing discoveries – many of them heard here in world-premiere recordings – brings together some of the most magnificent arias of the genre. All of them place such huge demands on the singer’s abilities that only the world’s most legendary castratos such as Farinelli and Caffarelli were considered able to do them justice.

Composer: Giuseppe De Majo, Nicolo Porpora, Leonardo Leo, Johann Adolf Hasse, …
Performer: Simone Kermes
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità

Reviews: Eight of the 12 songs are world premiere recordings of unaccountably beautiful arias such as Nicola Antonio Porpora’s “ Tace l’augello”, interspersed with more familiar pieces by Handel and Pergolesi. Simone Kermes treats these first airings with due care, exhibiting stately grace and poise on Porpora’s “Alto Giove”, and coping remarkably with the wide range and rapid coloratura passages of material often written for castrati, notably Giuseppe De Majo’s “Per trionfar pugnando”.

Tracklisting:

1. Arianna e Teseo: Per trionfar pugnando by Giuseppe De Majo
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1747; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 6 Minutes 56 Secs.
Notes: This selection begins with sound effects of an old phonograph being played.

2. Polifemo: Alto Giove by Nicolo Porpora
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1735; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 9 Minutes 11 Secs.

3. Mitridate: Vedrà turbato il mare by Nicolo Porpora
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1730; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 7 Minutes 0 Secs.

4. L'Agrippina: Tace l'augello by Nicolo Porpora
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1708; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 6 Minutes 54 Secs.

5. Germanico in Germania: Empi, se mai disciolgo by Nicolo Porpora
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1732; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 2 Minutes 37 Secs.

6. Ifigenia in Aulide: Le limpid'onde by Nicolo Porpora
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1735; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 9 Minutes 38 Secs.

7. Zenobia in Palmira: Son qual nave in ria procella by Leonardo Leo
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: 1725; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 4 Minutes 43 Secs.

8. L'Olimpiade: Consola il genitore by Johann Adolf Hasse
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1756
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 3 Minutes 51 Secs.

9. Adriano in Siria: Sul mio cor by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1734; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 7 Minutes 56 Secs.

10. Germanico in Germania: Se dopo ria procella by Nicolo Porpora
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: Italy
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 7 Minutes 34 Secs.

11. Rinaldo, HWV 7: Lascia ch'io pianga by George Frideric Handel
Performer: Simone Kermes (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble: La Magnifica Comunità
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1711; London, England
Date of Recording: 01/2012
Venue: Meistersaal, Berlin
Length: 5 Minutes 45 Secs.



Thanks to the original releaser