Agree with all you say – I had exactly the same experience with Bartoli…She had the potential. Of course the blatant pushing from the start by Decca made her career with no famous success in any major opera house (as happened with the Caballe Lucrezia etc etc)

This new CD is nt as bad as I feared though I thought it would be pretty grim.

But I must say that – as with Michael Jackson – its not so much CB that I find annoying its her totally demented fans.

Thanks for this list. I am surprised she didn’t sing Leone’s arias – which are considerably higher than the arias for Bradamante and Ruggiero. I’ll have another listen to “Ruggiero” in the meantime.

Dresdner Musikfestspiele 1997
Sonntag, 1 juni 1997, 11.00 Uhr
Semperoper Dresden

Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783)

Vo d’uninfido a svellarmi
Rezitatif und Arie der Bradamante aus
“Ruggiero ovvero L’Eroica Gratidunine”

Questo è troppo soffrir
Rezitatif und Arie des Ruggiero aus
“Ruggiero ovvero L’Eroica Gratidunine”

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

- Liebeslied op 51/5
- Heiss mich nicht reden, heiss mich schweigen op 98a/5
- So lasst mich scheinen, bis ich werde op 98a/9
- Lehn deine Wang’ op. 48/13
- Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet op 48/13
- Was will die einsame Träne op 25/21
- Mein schöner Stern op 101/4
- Widmung op 25/1

PAUSE

Clara Schumann (1819-1896)

- Am Strand
- Liebst du um Schönheit op. 12
- Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen op. 12
- Liebeszauber
- O weh des Scheidens
- Mein Stern

Richard Strauss
(1864-1949)

- Ruhe, meine Seele! op 27/1
- Seitdem dein Aug’ in meines schaute op 17/1
- Befreit op. 39/4
- Heimliche Aufforderung op. 27/3

Encore:

Richard Strauss – Allerseelen

No more booing once she got passed the Hasse, fortunately. She ended in triumph, with the most gorgeous version of Allerseelen.

Two years later I heard her again, in a much smaller theatre, with a incredibly highbrow recital on the “Düsseldorf period of Schumann.” The highlight of that recital were the five Maria Stuart songs, followed by the Requiem. A few months later she repeated the same recital at the Cuvilliés Theatre, and then she retired.

She sounded great – the voice a bit sluggish, big, screechy and loud, but who cared, all the artistry was still there.

The reviews the next day mentioned she did not merely enter and leave the stage, but celebrated het entries and exits “mit Würd’ und Hoheit angetan.”

What did she sound like in general? She started having vocal problems in the late 70s.

By the early 80s she seemed to have to struggle to reach high C.

Thanks for this info. Moser must have sung one of Leone’s arias – whichw as written for the same castrato who sang Mozart’s Fauno that season.

Yup, have sung quite a fair amount of Hasse. I’ll bare that in mind if I should ever have the (mis)fortune to sing his music in Dresden. (Talking about that, have heard a few really bad live recordings – ranging from thigns done in the 70′s to more recent – that the audience LOVE. So I can’t imagine they like good singing there.)

http://rapidshare.com/files/301148997/Hasse_aria.mp3

I used to be a fan of Bartoli. Her first Rossini recording – with the red gloves – the Cenerentola, the Idamante on the Levine Idomeneo, were all terrific, but something went wrong along the way. Something that is very telling in how it relates to the current state of opera.

No one could successfully argue that Bartoli possesses many of the skills of a virtuosa singer. Rapid articulation of runs, clean intervalic leaps, great dynamic control, etc. But what her current singing so clearly lacks, what has made her singing unlistenable to me, is the most basic requirement of a singer of 18th-early 20th century art music – a well-supported tone and a fluent legato.

Bartoli’s breath support is now so problematic that she cannot sing a clean legato line without resorting to unsupported head voice. As a result, everything above mp is harsh and stringy. Her recent performances are almost parodies of operatic singing. Overly manipulated dynamics, clucking aspirated coloratura, distortion of even the most simple lines.

Through all this, her basic musical intelligence still shines through. That’s why I cannot dismiss her as an artist. I am still waiting for that early potential to reveal itself.

Some forget that massive tons and I mean tons of ‘ancient scholarly music’: has been placed before the classical record buying public for the last 4 to 5 decades, if one kept a close watch on what was released. I found out, digging (literally around on the floor on one’s knees) over discarded racks and rows of new remaindered records in shops during those years for a ‘possible find’. Yes, they were considered unloved ‘turkeys’, failures, and flops, ‘to clear’ material. Well Cecilia has done the work for those, short of time -today. Those that love to dip into strange things without any effort. Lovely packaged concept albums, pretty step by step education books accompanying them and then, finally given the releases, ‘precious’ titles and covers :like the latest that looks like a badly un-bandaged (whilst wet) plaster model, of a sexual Frankensteiner. Its Kulture for these modern days!

Bartoli’s voice IS small, but don’t take her to task for something she can’t change. Hate her for something else, something she shouldn’t have done, like that Norma project. Otherwise, if you don’t like it don’t bother.

H: I can’t say that I agree about some of the music not being interesting. I find a all of it interesting, and worth reviving. (However, the oratorio arias are not really a welcome addition as she could have covered them in her Proibita cd and given that space to Hasse or more Vinci.)

Whatever her motives for recording this unknown music the advantages to the audience is clear: the rediscovery and the hopeful introduction of Vinci, Hasse and Porpora into mainstream (baroque) repertoire.

Handel (and Bach obviously) are really not reflective of the true state of opera in the 18th century. It would be like Britten or Menotti becoming the most performed 20th century composer in the next 100 – 200 years because say Strauss and Puccini would be considered as second rate or too commercial. (Can’t think of a better comparison. But I hope I make my point though. Also, I specifically use Bach cos he is often used as a standard against which music of that time is judged against. And this becomes especially dangerous when one considers that he never wrote for the theatre.)

My main reservation about this recital is the conspicuous lack of Hasse – arguably the most famous composer during his own lifetime. And with only one Vinci aria in favour of the Graun and Araia contributions is somewhat disappointing for this baroque nerd.

I love this disc but not a fan of CB’s vocal overacting.

S: I too think the sound effects in the Vinci aria is rubbish.

Many of you raise the right questions, about whether these kind of CDs are really a cash cow or whether it’s just a publicity engine – I don’t have the data, but I imagine it’s somewhere in the middle – lucrative but not too. Also, as to whether she is really interested in this repertoire or just cannily connecting the commercial dots. Again, probably somewhere in between.

As for the Florez quote, that YouTube ruined the CD business – that’s really kindof LOL funny (though not at all believable)

Squirrel OUT

But I still like this one better, camel toe and all..

Oh, goodness; my typing was horrible.

It’s hard to say if Bartoli is a true trailblazer or simply canny about connecting to trends; however, before her Vivaldi CD there were relatively few Vivaldi operas on CD and no recitals of Vivaldi arias that I know of, now there are numerous examples of each, with Vivica Genaux’s Vivaldi CD out next month (and Magdalena Kozena’s already released in Europe but somehow not generally available in the US). And there have been quite a few castrato-driven collections in recent years: Geneaux’s Farinelli and Kasarova’s and Jaroussky’s Carestini CDs are just a few examples.

As for squirrel’s review, it covers certain bases, but I’d honestly ask if he’d ever heard a single example of Neopolitan Baroque before listening to this CD. Operas by Porpora, Vinci and Graun have been recorded, as well as considerable music by Caldara (who was also featured in Bartoli’s Opera Proibita CD). His review sort of implies that the 100 minutes of music is one florid extravaganza after another–that is clearly not true–there are as many adagio pieces as allegros. In fact I’ve always preferred Bartoli in slow music finding her coloratura too herky-jerky and breathy (my problem with much of Horne’s florid singing also). An interesting comparison could be made between this CD and Karina Gauvin’s recently CD of Porpora arias and/or Simone Kermes’ CD of Neopolitan arias (now Kermes is a diva for this group–probably certifiably crazy–who else would offer an encore of Weill’s “Surabaya Johnny” after an all-Vivaldi concert as she did at Weill a couple years ago, or wear some of the lunatic outfits she always does–check out her Youtube clips)–but she’s nearly always interesting and undeniably exciting, if mannered beyond belief.

As for me, I find “Sacrificium” less compelling than either the Vivaldi or the Opera Proibita CDs mostly because the music isn’t terribly interesting. The Caldara is the best but the rest can’t compare to the Handel/Vivaldi/Scarlatti on the earlier programs.

And that Julia Lezhneva is amazing. These are videos from 2007 when she was only 18.

And more…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZND9XCPYdA&feature=related

My god, this woman is AMAZING!!! Compare to La Cluckola’s version:

The term vanity project usually suggests
1) the creator paid to have it published
2) it’s worthless crap

Of course she didn’t pay for this to be put out. They paid her.
And when the reason for CD is actually discussed (the freakin’ music!) it is, apparently, well done.

I wonder at Harry’s rejection of Baroque music by saying he wants balls and excitement–a good deal of the Vivaldi and other composers’ arias that Bartoli sings are thrilling, highly dramatic pieces. And given the neglect of so much of his repertory, I think a little scholarly archaeology is most welcome. Beats watching and listening to Mimi die another thousandth time, much as I admire and love Boheme. There’s a lot more unrevived great stuff out there!