The contrasting and complementary talents of two star countertenors, Philippe Jaroussky and Max Emanuel Cencic, come to the fore in this programme of chamber-scale duets and arias by Italian composers of the early 18th century: Porpora, Mancini, Bononcini, Marcello, Conti and Alessandro Scarlatti. This is a richly filled programme, based on concerts presented by Jaroussky, Cencic and Les Arts Florissants under William Christie’s direction in France and Spain in early 2011.

Both countertenors are virtuosic performers, but Jaroussky is especially famed for the gracefulness of his vocalism, whether in brilliant castrato arias or his Virgin Classics album of belle époque song, Opium, while Cencic favours a more assertive and athletic style, which served him well in his breathtaking recital of Rossini arias for Virgin Classics.

Philippe Jaroussky provides some background to the new recording of Baroque duets: “William Christie spoke to Max and me about his idea for a programme of chamber duos, and it immediately caught our imagination. While our most recent recordings have been of operatic arias, we share an interest in the more intimate Baroque repertoire, which both of us have recorded before now.

“Rather than performing chamber duets by Handel, which are the most widely heard examples of the genre, we decided to focus on Italian composers of the early 18th century who influenced the young Handel, such as Benedetto Marcello, Alessandro Scarlatti, Agostino Steffani and Giovanni Bononcini [who also competed for public favour with Handel in London in the 1720s]. They wrote duets of great beauty, generally rarely performed, where the two voices entwine in a way that is sometimes very sophisticated, but also very sensual.”

Contents:
Giovanni Bononcini: 'Pietoso nume arcier'
1. Duetto: 'Pietoso Nume arcier'
2. Recitativo: 'Consolati'
3. Duetto: 'Se l'idolo che adoro'

Francesco Mancini: 'Quanto mai saria più bello'
4. Aria: 'Quanto mai saria più bello'
5. Recitativo: 'Irene, che ne dici'
6. Aria: 'La costanza nell'amore

Francesco Bartolomeo Conti
7. Aria 'Quando veggo un'usignolo'

Giovanni Bononcini: 'Chi d'Amor tra le catene'
8. Duetto: 'Chi d'Amor'
9. Duetto: 'Bella si ma crudel'

Nicola Porpora: 'Ecco che il primo albore'
10. Sinfonia
11. Recitativo 'Ecco che il primo albore'
12. Aria 'La pecorella contenta'
13. Recitativo 'Pastor gentil'
14. Aria 'Se andrà senza il Pastore'

Bendetto Marcello: Cantata 'Chiaro e limpido fonte'
15. Recitativo 'Chiaro, e limpido fonte'
16. Aria 'Al partir della fronte serena'
17. Recitativo 'Voi pur leggiere aurette'
18. Aria 'Un solo respiro'
19. Recitativo 'Mirtillo, a che si cerca'
20. Duetto 'Dunque voi cristalli erranti'
21. Recitativo 'Mà, che pianger Mirtillo?'
22. Duetto 'La nobile luce'

Benedetto Marcello: Cantata 'Tirsi e Fileno'
23. Duetto No.1: 'Veggio Fille/Parlo a Clori'

Alessandro Scarlatti
24. 'Nel cor del cor mio'