Cecilia Bartoli - St.Petersburg

The newest release of Cecilia Bartoli's ongoing series of "concept" albums in book form, beautifuly crafted and edited, is dedicated to arias long forgotten, apparently exhumed and selected by the singer herself from scores hold in the Mariinsky Theatre Musical Archive in St. Petersburg. These eleven world premiere recordings give us a sample of some of the operatic works performed in Russia during the XVIIIth century, when three Tsaritsas -Anna, Elizabeth and Catherine the Great- ruled supreme, importing composers and singers mainly from Italy. Unfortunately whoever decided the contents of the very chic book (and I suspect Bartoli must be behind it) seems more interested in these queens and their flamboyant court than in the actual composers and music here recorded. While we get irrelevant details of the life of Catherine the Great (such as her husband preferring playing with his toy soldiers to making love to her and even the ludicrous myth of her stallion collapsing of top of her while she was attempting sexual intercourse with the beast!), we get little information of the musical milieu and the musicians and no information whatsoever of the totally unknown pieces. Very dissapointing. The music varies in quality and, as in the Sacrificium album, we could have lived without some of it for another 200 years. But there are other pieces, particularly the slow ones, very beautiful and deserving of several hearings. Bartoli herself shines brighter in these than in those with very fast and florid ornamentation, wich, to my ears at least, become rather predictable and tiring. The singerr remains quite unique, with her trademark passionate delivery and spectacular coloratura. It is an interesting album, although inevitably, after Sacrificium and others, doesn't seem so novel any more. I'm happy I bought it, but I think it could have been better documented. Fans of Bartoli of course will love it. She appears in several pictures beautifully dressed and photoshopped as an empress. Cecilia the Great indeed. I couldn't help a little smile while looking at these pictures and listening to the last track, a chorus of exaltation from Mafredini's Carlo Magno, "A noi vivi, donna eccelsa…"

For the very first time Cecilia Bartoli explores the Baroque musical treasures of Tsarist Russia with music from the court of three 18th century Tsaristas: Anna, Elizabeth and Catherine the Great. With music written by Italian and German composers working for the Russian court, this album sheds new light on an incredible and momentous time for Russia, shaping its politics and culture towards the enlightened West.

Mostly sung in Italian, the album also offers the first opportunity to hear Bartoli sing in Russian. The music has been intricately researched by Cecilia herself, unlocking the archives of St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Library to uncover music lost for over 200 years. The new recording reunites Bartoli with Baroque specialists Diego Fasolis & I Barocchisti.

Cecilia Bartoli has won six Gramophone Awards and has sold over ten million units, making her Universal’s best-selling ‘core’ classical artist.