Motets/Cantatas

I find it really puzzling when people write reviews only to complain about the inadequacy of packaging. I'm sure Gerard Lesne had nothing to do with the label's decision to reissue these recordings without texts - so he shouldn't be getting three stars because of that (see one of the reviews below). These are wonderful recordings. CD1 contains four cantatas and two sonatas by the Venetian composer Antonio Caldara. Until recently, Caldara was barely represented on disc, but now there are two exceptional recordings: this one and Maddalena ai Piedi di Cristo/Jacobs (don't miss!). Although three of the cantatas on this disc are relatively conventional pastorales, the fourth one, Medea in Corinto, is anything but striking. Caldara demonstrates genuine dramatic skills, tracing Medea's famous revenge from the moment she first realizes Jason's been unfaithful to the moment she seals her decision to punish Jason by summoning the demons to carry out the deed. Lesne's superb intonation renders the character of Medea almost jarringly real. Who needs sleeve notes? CD2 features five motets by Alessandro Stradella, another relatively unknown Italian who really deserves to be heard. (don't miss Stradella's oratorio San Giovanni Battista/Minkowski, Erato 2292-45739-2, also with Lesne - buy it, you'll thank me). Each of the motets on this disc is structurally distinct, but what unites them is Stradella's remarkable gift as a melodist. Lesne is joined here by soprano Sandrine Piau, his frequent singing partner. They make a memorable vocal combination. gkolomietz@yahoo.com

Disc 1: Antonio Caldara (1670 - 1736): Cantatas. 1. Medea in Corinto. 2. Soffri, mio caro Alcino. 3. D'improvviso amor ferisce. 4. Vicino a un rivoletto. Additional instrumental music: Sonata da camera in D major, Op. 2 No. 3 [1699]; Sónata a tre, Op. 1 No. 5 [Venice, 1693]. Performed by: Gérard Lesne, male alto, and Il Seminario Musicale [Ryo Terakado, Bernadette Charbonnier, violins; Bruno Cocset, cello; Vincent Charbonnier, double bass; Eric Bellocq, Pascal Monteilhet, theorbos; Pierre Hantai, harpsichord]. Recorded at the Temple de la Villette, Paris, in June 1990. Total time: 67'56".

Disc 2: Alessandro Stradella (1639 - 1682): Motets. 1. Crocifissione e morte die N. S. Giesù Christo. 2. Benedictus Dominus Deus. 3. O vos omnes qui transitis. 4. Chare Jesu suavissime. 5. Lamentatione per il Mercoledi Santo. Performed by Sandrine Piau, soprano, and Gérard Lesne, male alto, with Il Seminario Musicale [Fabrizio Cipriani, Sophie Gevers-Demoures, violins; Bruno Cocset, bass violin and cello; Richard Myron, double bass; Pascal Monteilhet, theorbo; Jean-Charles Ablitzer, positive organ; Blandine Rannou, harpsichord]. Recorded at the Chapelle de l'Ermitage, Versailles, France in March 1995. Total time: 61'38".

The French male alto Gérard Lesne has one of the most fascinating voices to come out of the early music scene, its lovely, smooth and natural timbre being far removed from anything resembling the "crowing" of some eighties' countertenors. Lesne distinguishes himself from the British school of countertenor by his deliberate use of vibrato, something that he has mastered so perfectly that no early music purist will want to fault him, at least not on the repertoire presented here. (I found him a little too operatic when he performed Bach cantatas with Philippe Herreweghe.) The first CD contains four cantatas and two short instrumental pieces by Antonio Caldara, one of those fascinating characters to emerge from the Republic of Venice in the second half of the seventeenth century. The two sonatas played here so delightfully by Il Seminario Musicale are firmly based in the seventeenth century and are very reminiscent of similar works by Arcangelo Corelli. The cantatas on the other hand are highly dramatic (Medea in Corinto) or imitative of nature (Vicino a un rivoletto) and show Caldara not only to be a child of his age but a composer very much worth the listening to. His contemporaries were also of this opinion, and he spent the latter years of his life composing for the Imperial Court in Vienna.

The second CD is devoted to that rather enigmatic composer of a generation earlier, Alessandro Stradella, whose main claim to fame seems to be that he was brutally murdered. Gérard Lesne had already sung the title role in Stradella's oratorio San Giovanni Battista (directed by Mark Minkowski: Stradella: San Giovanni Battista), a recording which received considerable praise in the press, including from the BBC's Edward Greenfield. On this CD Lesne sings two solo motets and then is joined by the lovely French soprano Sandrine Piau for three further sacred pieces. The two harmonize wonderfully, and it is difficult to imagine a better or more engaged performance than this. My only question-mark would be behind the engineering and/or the acoustics which seemed less bright and less convincing than on the Caldara CD.

So, after all that praise, why only four stars? Well, this is a budget priced reissue, and the saving has been made on the documentation. Adelaide de Place's accompanying essay is less than a page long and tells us almost nothing (and the German translation has a hideous misprint [?] in the last sentence which makes Stradella love castrati instead of contrasts!). And there are no texts available, so we never really find out what the beautiful singing is about - a real disadvantage that could make serious listeners try to get hold of the original issues second-hand.

Virgin has been very generous pairing these 2 formidable recordings and giving it away at such modest price. Gerad Lesne is not only the greatest countertenor around, he is one of the finest artists in the music world. His musicianship, his voice, everything in him tells. And these Stradella motets are gorgeous. Don't miss this!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars