Duetti

A very new recording has arrived on the scene! Based on concerts presented in Spain and France countertenors Philippe Jaroussky and Max Emanuel Cencic have joined with William Christie and the Les Arts Florissants to produce this CD of duets written for countertenors. The result is so satisfying that the recoding will likely be in the running for awards.

As a bit of background for this venture, the booklet note explains `the `duetto da camera' was in part a response to the papal ban on opera in Rome in the early eighteenth century - and as the edict also forbade women from singing in public, the cantatas on this disc were necessarily written for castrati. Most of these works last around ten minutes and combine recitative dialogue with duet (the `duetto da camera') or with arias for each singer in turn (the `chamber duet'). Both are secular forms, typically setting a pastoral `nymphs-and-shepherds' text written by one or more of the scholars, amateur poets or even cardinals who attended `conversazione' (something akin to modern-day summer schools!) in Rome and Naples in order to exchange ideas and foster their appreciation of music and the other arts.'

What follows is some of the most artistic singing of this era's music on CD. Cencic's voice has the darker timbre, with plenty of metallic bite throughout the registers, whilst Jaroussky is sweeter and more ethereal. Each gets a solo cantata (inevitably, in the persona of a shepherd) which plays to these strengths, Jaroussky's by Mancini (all limpid streams and flowery banks) and Cencic's by Porpora (listen to the thrilling bite in his voice in the final section as he sings of the savage beasts who threaten his flock).

The pieces included here are as follows: Bononcini, G B `Pietoso nume arcier', and `Chi d'Amor tra le catene'; Conti `Quando veggo un'usignolo'; Mancini `Quanto mai saria più bello'; Marcello ``Chiaro e limpido fonte', and `Tirsi e Fileno'; Porpora `Ecco che il primo albore'; and Scarlatti `Amore e Virtu: Nel cor del cor mio'.

The two voices blend so well, each countertenor surpassing in his own range, and Christie and his ensemble provide just the right embellishments. The result is a recording of rare beauty by two of the finest countertenors of our time. Grady Harp, November 11

Philippe Jaroussky's voice must surely be one of the most well-known in the world today, with a delicate timbre that puts one in mind of a fragile, tender morning full of birdsong and finespun sunlight.

Teaming up with him on this album is countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic, whose tessitura is a little lower than Jaroussky's, with a sound a little more robust, as though the morning had wandered on apace and the sun had already evaporated the dew upon the green.

The result? Wonderful - truly a magical match of voices, with of course the outstanding ensemble Les Arts Florissants conducted with detail and mastery by William Christie.

The repertoire (duetti da camera by Bononcini, Mancini, FConti, Porpora, Marcello and Alessandro Scarlatti) allows both voices to exhibit their tone and sensibilities within and upon the music. Moving between solo and duet segments, it's nothing less than delicious pleasure to listen to. Both the tender and the sprightly movements are beautifully performed.

The demands of this sort of music reveal just how much technical mastery was required by the castrati of the day, as well as the qualities of emotional and spiritual conveyance from performer to listener.

Utterly beautiful. Recommended in the highest degree.

.... sopranos. If they choose. Or altos. The chief obstacles being years of training and innate musicianship. Hey, what's to stop you!

Philippe Jaroussky trained first as a violinist and then as a pianist, before committing himself to singing at the Early Music Faculty of the Conservatoire de Paris. Max Emanuel Cencic was a singer from the start; from 1987 to 1992, he was a member of the Vienna Boys' Choir, where he was frequently a featured soloist. Recordings of Cencic as a boy soprano are still available, with his performance in Johann Strauss II's "Frühlingsstimmen" a example of astounding precocious virtuosity. There's the training; you'll be able to hear the innate musicianship on the CD.

Jaroussky is the higher and more agile soprano throughout these duets, while Cencic shows some aptitude for sounding like an alto even when singing in a soprano register. Their voices are distinct enough to distinguish their roles in the excerpted recitativos and arias without worrying over the texts. Each singer has a solo cantata with which to display his special timbres. Jaroussky sing the cantata Quanto mai saria più bello by Francesco Mancini, while Cencic sings Nicola Porpora's Ecco che il primo albore, with two violins playing obbligato. The duet sellection include two "duetti da camera" by Giovanni Bononcini, a excerpt and a full pastoral cantata by Benedetto Marcello, and a brief duet by Alessandro Scarlatti. Bononcini is a composer who works impress me more and more, as more and more excellent performances of it are recorded.

Duets were the exception raher than the norm in Italian baroque cantatas, serenatas, and operas. Many a major work, in fact, has no more than a single perfunctory lovers' making-up duet. So these selections are of special interest. The most flamboyant coloratura writing was reserved for the solo arias, to be sung by the superstars, including the acclaimed castrati. Duets provided the composers the chance to display their mastery of counterpoint and of sweeter 'affects'. There are aerial displays to be heard on this CD, from both men, but the most interesting moments, for me, are to be heard in their "mixing and matching" -- their exquisite ensemble technique and their complementary timbres.

And of course, there's Bill Christie with Les Arts Florissants. The CD notes suggest that Christie himself initiated this project of recording Jaroussky and Cencic together. If so, it's one of a long list of things "we" need to thank Christie for.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars