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Fabio Biondi & Europa Galante - Scarlatti: La Santissima Trinità (2004)

Fabio Biondi & Europa Galante - Scarlatti: La Santissima Trinità (2004)

BAND/ARTIST: Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante

  • Title: Alessandro Scarlatti: Oratorio per la Santissima Trinità
  • Year Of Release: 2004
  • Label: Virgin veritas
  • Genre: Classical
  • Quality: FLAC (image + .cue, log, scans)
  • Total Time: 1:07:25
  • Total Size: 401 MB
  • WebSite:
 Tracklist:

With this exciting release, Fabio Biondi, the outstanding Europa Galante, and a cast led by stars Véronique Gens and Vivica Genaux strike a decisive blow for Alessandro Scarlatti's obscure Oratorio per la Santissima Trinità. Old-fashioned even in its day, the work is a musicalized instructional debate about the mysteries of the Holy Trinity between the allegorical personae of Faith, Theology, Faithlessness, Time, and Divine Love. If you're asleep already, it's for good reason. The libretto is the definition of dry -- boring both for its rhetorical contrivance and its verbosity. But before you run for the nearest exit, know that Scarlatti responded to this uninspired mess of ideological bickering with outstanding music, entertaining from beginning to end. Drawing only on a small ensemble of strings and continuo, he created an improbably diverse-sounding score full of infectious rhythms, appealing vocal melodies, and rich textures. The recitatives are lavished with the same melodic care and detail as the arias and ensembles, and the personality of each character is etched into his music. Listening, one might think the plot revolves around a love affair, or a social intrigue. Certainly not wave upon wave of phrases like "One cannot believe it, but only raise one's eyebrows in stupefaction." In other words, if you can ignore the text it's an immensely fun listen, and a great example of the stylistic fluidity of Scarlatti's music in 1715.

The musical success of the album is a tribute to Biondi and Europa Galante, who find inspiration in every bar. The strings are crisp, warm, and impeccably unified, and Biondi keeps them rolling along, making the most of Scarlatti's frequently shifting meters and occasional jarring harmonies. The cast deserves credit for tackling highly ornamented, often intricate vocal lines with grace and verve, and for investing the performances with far more humanity than the libretto deserves. Vivica Genaux proves once again that she can sing this style of music as fast, as gracefully, and as expressively as anyone ever has or will, sounding great in the process. Véronique Gens is a heftier vocal presence than is often heard in music of this period, but she is a force to be reckoned with, and the only genuinely compelling dramatic presence of the bunch in the role of Divine Love. Roberta Invernizzi's lighter, more agile soprano contrasts nicely with that of Gens, and shines especially in her many duets. The men are less convincing. Paul Agnew delivers his arias in a choppy, non-legato style that detracts from Scarlatti's tuneful charm. And Roberto Abbondanza's otherwise solid performance as Time is undercut by his bizarre and distracting habit of inserting "w"s between notes of runs, resulting in what sounds like a long string of "wa-wa-wa-wa-was." -- Allen Schrott

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Classical | FLAC / APE | CD-Rip

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