Sento brillar. Arias for Carestini
Sento brillar. Arias for Carestini
MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | Covers | RAR 149 MB
Classical | 2008 | RCA Red Seal | Playing Time: 64'12"
MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | Covers | RAR 149 MB
Classical | 2008 | RCA Red Seal | Playing Time: 64'12"
"Handel could express the whole cosmos of humanity with his music. He had a passion for opera. The fascinating thing is that, like Mozart, the most profoundly and intensely dramatic music of his is found not in showy tunes, but in the slow and quiet music when his heroes express their anguish and sorrow."TRACKS
So states Vesselina Kasarova, the great Bulgarian mezzo-soprano opera singer, in the little booklet that comes with this fascinating studio recorded CD compilation of 15 Baroque arias (all composed by Georg Friedrich Händel) that were made famous by the legendary soprano castrato Giovanni Maria Bernardino Carestini (1700- c.1760). It is a rather bold statement that explains why her latest disc is dominated by long, slow, and dramatically affecting arias rather than being the usual collection of flashy virtuoso numbers that one would expect from a CD compilation of songs from the Baroque period. Aside from the final 8 tracks from the operas Ariodante and Alcina, the arias on the disc are from very rarely performed early Händel works that we would likely never get to hear in full. So… unless you are a fanatical Händel collector, chances are good that you have never heard some of the arias on this disc before.
Kasarova is rightfully known both for her instantaneously recognizable sumptuous and agile voice of many color and for her ability to communicate a wide range of emotion in her singing. The selection of arias on this CD is quite aptly designed to highlight all those qualities. Her trademark warm and controlled vibrato (the natural pulsation) in her voice is minimized and opportunistically used to great dramatic in great combination with fantastic vocal coloring. She doesn't deploy her famous (or infamous, depending almost entirely on your stylistic preference) chest notes as freely as she usually does, however. And she seems a bit more mindful of the Baroque style in her rendition! I must confess that I still prefer her usual 'let it all hang out' way of singing these Baroque heroes to this cleaner studio rendition. But after 4 listening sessions this recording is still growing on me all the time! I really don’t know why… but there is that undefinable Kasarova magic to it.
OTTONE, RÉ DI GERMANIA, HWV 15 (1733)
1. Dove sei, dolce mia vita
2. Un disprezzato affetto
ARIANNA IN CRETA, HWV 32
3. O patria! O citadin!
4. Sol ristoro di mortali
5. Bella sorge la speranza
IL PASTOR FIDO/TERPSICORE, HWV 8c
6. Sento brillar nel sen
7. Caro amor, sol per momenti
ARIODANTE, HWV 33
8. Overture & Ballet
9. O felice mio core
10. Con l’ali di constanza
11.E vivo ancora?
12. Scherza infida in grembo al
13. Numi Lasciami vivere
ALCINA, HWV 34
14. Mi lusinga il dolce affetto
15. Verdi prati, selve amene
