Mozart - Lucio Silla
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Label: Erato
Cat No: 9029637734
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 2
Genre: Opera
Release Date: 8th April 2022
Contents
Artists
Franco Fagioli (countertenor)Olga Pudova (soprano)
Alessandro Liberatore (tenor)
Chiara Skerath (soprano)
Ilse Eerens (soprano)
Le Jeune Choeur de Paris
Insula Orchestra
Conductor
Laurence EquilbeyWorks
Lucio Silla, K135Artists
Franco Fagioli (countertenor)Olga Pudova (soprano)
Alessandro Liberatore (tenor)
Chiara Skerath (soprano)
Ilse Eerens (soprano)
Le Jeune Choeur de Paris
Insula Orchestra
Conductor
Laurence EquilbeyAbout
Following Laurence Equilbey’s Magic Mozart album is this youthful work from Mozart that shakes up the codes of the opera seria and prefigures Romanticism: an inimitable blend of depth and lightness, intensity and grace.
The cast features countertenor Franco Fagioli, worthy heir to the castrati, as well as Olga Pudova, Chiara Skerath, Ilse Eerens, and Alessandro Liberatore. Laurence Equilbey conducts Le Jeune Choeur de Paris and Insula Orchestra.
“She managed to unfold a wide array of colours from the historic instruments of the excellent Insula Orchestra and she demonstrates a true passion for music. The evening ends in a thundering applause. This ‘Lucio Silla’ could flourish in Vienna.” – Salzburger Nachrichten
Cast:
- Cecilio: Franco Fagioli (countertenor)
- Giunia: Olga Pudova (soprano)
- Lucio Silla: Alessandro Liberatore (tenor)
- Lucio Cinna: Chiara Skerath (soprano)
- Celia: Ilse Eerens (soprano)
The cast features countertenor Franco Fagioli, worthy heir to the castrati, as well as Olga Pudova, Chiara Skerath, Ilse Eerens, and Alessandro Liberatore. Laurence Equilbey conducts Le Jeune Choeur de Paris and Insula Orchestra.
“She managed to unfold a wide array of colours from the historic instruments of the excellent Insula Orchestra and she demonstrates a true passion for music. The evening ends in a thundering applause. This ‘Lucio Silla’ could flourish in Vienna.” – Salzburger Nachrichten
Cast:
- Cecilio: Franco Fagioli (countertenor)
- Giunia: Olga Pudova (soprano)
- Lucio Silla: Alessandro Liberatore (tenor)
- Lucio Cinna: Chiara Skerath (soprano)
- Celia: Ilse Eerens (soprano)
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Overtura: Molto allegro
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2Overtura: Andante
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3Overtura: Molto allegro
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4Atto 1º: Vieni ov’amor t’invita
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5Atto 1º: Dunque sperar poss’io
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6Atto 1º: Il tenero momento
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7Atto 1º: Se lusinghiera speme
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8Atto 1º: Dalla sponda tenebrosa
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9Atto 1º: Un dittatore così s’insulta
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10Atto 1º: Il desio di vendetta, e di morte
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11Atto 1º: Morte, morte fatal
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12Atto 1º: Fuour di queste urne dolenti ... O del padre ombra diletta
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13Atto 1º: Se l’empio Silla, o padre
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14Atto 1º: D’Eliso in sen m’attendi
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15Atto 2º: Cecilio, a che t’arresti presso la tomba mia?
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16Atto 2º: Quest’improvviso tremito
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17Atto 2º: Vanne. T’affretta
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18Atto 2º: Ah se il crudel periglio
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19Atto 2º: Ah sì, scuotasi omai
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20Atto 2º: D’ogni pietà mi spoglio perfida
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21Atto 2º: Quando sugl’arsi campi
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22Atto 2º: In un istante oh come s’accrebbe il mio timor!
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23Atto 2º: Se gloria il crin ti cinse
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24Atto 2º: Quell’orgoglioso sdegno
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25Atto 3º: Strider sento la procella
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26Atto 3º: De’ più superbi il core
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27Atto 3º: Pupille amate
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28Atto 3º: Sposo... mia vita...
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29Atto 3º: Fra i pensier più funesti di morte
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30Atto 3º: Or l’atto illustre alfine decider dee
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31Atto 3º: Il gran Silla
Europadisc Review
Mozart’s Lucio Silla is the third and last of the three operas he composed for Milan’s Teatro Regio Ducal in the early 1770s. Although just sixteen when he composed it within a matter of weeks, he begins to show signs of a maturity in handling the opera seria genre which anticipates Idomeneo – his first great opera – of eight years later. In particular, his use of accompanied recitatives, willingness to bend the shackles of da capo aria form, individuality of instrumentation, and a striking aria-within-chorus, can hardly fail to make an impression. And his writing for the upper voices that dominate the score contains many ear-catching delights.
Giovanni de Gamera’s libretto, modified by Metastasio, is set during the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Lucio Silla) in Republican-era Rome. Taking several liberties with the known historical facts, it’s Achilles’ is the sudden volte face by the eponymous dictator at the work’s end, as he suddenly renounces power and all claims to the heroine, Giunia, thus allowing her to marry her betrothed, the exiled senator Cecilio, just seconds after they had looked to be on a one-way ticket to Hades. The last-minute substitute of a less-than-ideal tenor in the title role meant that any attempt to explore the deeper motivation for this change of heart remained unexplored. But the music for the two lovers is first-rate, as is that for Cecilio’s ally Cinna, and Silla’s sister Celia.
Like Harnoncourt’s star-studded 1989 recording, Laurence Equilbey’s new account with her Insula orchestra is taken from live performances (with an impeccably quiet audience), and makes similar cuts, including the minor tenor role of Aufidio, paring the secco recitatives right down and, more controversially, omitting a couple of arias for the lovers. Yet, more successfully than Harnoncourt, Equilbey brings a welcome sense of momentum and stylishness to a work that, at full length, can seem impossibly unwieldy. And although it may lack Harnoncourt’s big names, this performance has a surer sense of Mozartian style both vocally and instrumentally, with plenty of buoyancy and light instead of Harnoncourt’s often relentless sonic explosiveness and rough edges.
In 1772 the original Cecilio was sung by the great castrato Venanzio Rauzzini. This no longer being an option, what we have here is a more than acceptable alternative in the countertenor of Franco Fagioli. His exceptionally wide range is equal to Mozart’s technical and expressive demands, whether in the stunning Act 2 vengeance aria ‘Quest’improvviso tremito’ or the immensely touching slow minuet of ‘Pupille amate’ toward the opera’s end. His Giunia is the young Russian soprano Olga Pudova in what appears to be only her second commercial recording. Her voice may lack the last half-ounce of clarity that Edita Gruberova brought to Harnoncourt’s recording, but her performance of the Act 2 coloratura show-stopper ‘Ah se il crudel periglio’ is nevertheless breathtaking, particularly its stratospheric climax. And her account of the meltingly lovely Act 3 aria ‘Fra i pensier più funesti’ would move a heart of stone. She and Fagioli make a lovely pairing in their Act 1 duet ‘D’Eliso in sen m’attendi’, while her solo ‘O del padre ombra diletta’ amid the tomb-side chorus is appropriately haunting.
As the titular dictator, tenor Alessandro Liberatore makes the best of an often ungrateful role, particularly his splendidly insulted feelings in ‘Il desio di vendetta, e di morte’ and his Act 2 terzetto with the unfortunate two lovers. The travesti role of Cecilio’s faithful friend Cinna is sung with stylish vigour, urgency and clarity by soprano Chiara Skerath (recently a fine Mélisande in Debussy’s opera on the Alpha label under Pierre Dumoussaud, as well as featuring on recordings by Ian Page’s Mozartists). Similarly bright-toned but with a touch of feminine opulence is soprano Ilse Eerens as Silla’s far from unsympathetic sister Celia, delightfully engaging in her Act 2 ‘Quando sugl’arsi campi’.
The singers of Le Jeune Chœur de Paris lend a chillingly shady atmosphere to the tomb scene as well as exuberance to the final chorus, and the period instruments of the Insula orchestra bring out all the individuality of Mozart’s writing (particularly the woodwind) without any hint of fussiness. Those who have found the continuo playing on recent Mozart opera sets from René Jacobs and Teodor Currentzis just too intrusive and interventionist will be relieved to hear that Benoît Hartoin’s harpsichord is relatively restrained without lacking character, and far more naturally balanced. Even for die-hard completists, Equilbey’s tremendously persuasive and flowing account of this fascinating opera from Mozart in his mid-teens has attractions unrivalled elsewhere in the discography. The cast and recording are uniformly impressive, elegantly packaged, with useful but compact notes, Italian libretto and English translation. For those who might baulk at the prospect of an uncut Lucio Silla, this is a fine addition to the catalogue.
Giovanni de Gamera’s libretto, modified by Metastasio, is set during the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Lucio Silla) in Republican-era Rome. Taking several liberties with the known historical facts, it’s Achilles’ is the sudden volte face by the eponymous dictator at the work’s end, as he suddenly renounces power and all claims to the heroine, Giunia, thus allowing her to marry her betrothed, the exiled senator Cecilio, just seconds after they had looked to be on a one-way ticket to Hades. The last-minute substitute of a less-than-ideal tenor in the title role meant that any attempt to explore the deeper motivation for this change of heart remained unexplored. But the music for the two lovers is first-rate, as is that for Cecilio’s ally Cinna, and Silla’s sister Celia.
Like Harnoncourt’s star-studded 1989 recording, Laurence Equilbey’s new account with her Insula orchestra is taken from live performances (with an impeccably quiet audience), and makes similar cuts, including the minor tenor role of Aufidio, paring the secco recitatives right down and, more controversially, omitting a couple of arias for the lovers. Yet, more successfully than Harnoncourt, Equilbey brings a welcome sense of momentum and stylishness to a work that, at full length, can seem impossibly unwieldy. And although it may lack Harnoncourt’s big names, this performance has a surer sense of Mozartian style both vocally and instrumentally, with plenty of buoyancy and light instead of Harnoncourt’s often relentless sonic explosiveness and rough edges.
In 1772 the original Cecilio was sung by the great castrato Venanzio Rauzzini. This no longer being an option, what we have here is a more than acceptable alternative in the countertenor of Franco Fagioli. His exceptionally wide range is equal to Mozart’s technical and expressive demands, whether in the stunning Act 2 vengeance aria ‘Quest’improvviso tremito’ or the immensely touching slow minuet of ‘Pupille amate’ toward the opera’s end. His Giunia is the young Russian soprano Olga Pudova in what appears to be only her second commercial recording. Her voice may lack the last half-ounce of clarity that Edita Gruberova brought to Harnoncourt’s recording, but her performance of the Act 2 coloratura show-stopper ‘Ah se il crudel periglio’ is nevertheless breathtaking, particularly its stratospheric climax. And her account of the meltingly lovely Act 3 aria ‘Fra i pensier più funesti’ would move a heart of stone. She and Fagioli make a lovely pairing in their Act 1 duet ‘D’Eliso in sen m’attendi’, while her solo ‘O del padre ombra diletta’ amid the tomb-side chorus is appropriately haunting.
As the titular dictator, tenor Alessandro Liberatore makes the best of an often ungrateful role, particularly his splendidly insulted feelings in ‘Il desio di vendetta, e di morte’ and his Act 2 terzetto with the unfortunate two lovers. The travesti role of Cecilio’s faithful friend Cinna is sung with stylish vigour, urgency and clarity by soprano Chiara Skerath (recently a fine Mélisande in Debussy’s opera on the Alpha label under Pierre Dumoussaud, as well as featuring on recordings by Ian Page’s Mozartists). Similarly bright-toned but with a touch of feminine opulence is soprano Ilse Eerens as Silla’s far from unsympathetic sister Celia, delightfully engaging in her Act 2 ‘Quando sugl’arsi campi’.
The singers of Le Jeune Chœur de Paris lend a chillingly shady atmosphere to the tomb scene as well as exuberance to the final chorus, and the period instruments of the Insula orchestra bring out all the individuality of Mozart’s writing (particularly the woodwind) without any hint of fussiness. Those who have found the continuo playing on recent Mozart opera sets from René Jacobs and Teodor Currentzis just too intrusive and interventionist will be relieved to hear that Benoît Hartoin’s harpsichord is relatively restrained without lacking character, and far more naturally balanced. Even for die-hard completists, Equilbey’s tremendously persuasive and flowing account of this fascinating opera from Mozart in his mid-teens has attractions unrivalled elsewhere in the discography. The cast and recording are uniformly impressive, elegantly packaged, with useful but compact notes, Italian libretto and English translation. For those who might baulk at the prospect of an uncut Lucio Silla, this is a fine addition to the catalogue.
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