Caldara / Schiavo / Stavanger Sym Orch / Biondi Morte E Sepoltura Di Christo CD

With Antonio Caldara's Morte e sepoltura di Christo, released on Glossa just after a new album devoted to Vivaldi's late violin concertos, Fabio Biondi returns to the Italian oratorio, another of his specialities. The Venetians Caldara and Vivaldi may have been contemporaries but their career paths led them in different directions, and Caldara was to spend much time working in Mantua and Rome before securing the position of vice-Kapellmeister for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in Vienna. For the last twenty years of his life Caldara produced copious quantities of oratorios (and operas), adding a rich sense of counterpoint and making use of the broad orchestral colouring offered by the varied instruments available to him at the Imperial court. Composed for the Lenten season in 1724, Morte e sepoltura follows the typical two-part scheme of the time, to a text comprising a series of reflections as from personages involved in some way in the events of the Passion of Christ. Notable is the profusion of solo arias with obliggato instrumental parts. Fabio Biondi's recording, with a team of soloists led by Maria Grazia Schiavo and Silvia Frigato, also includes other echoes of Caldara's Italian past - a pair of motets and instrumental music (a Vivaldi Sonata also makes an appearance) -, and he directs the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, with which he has worked so successfully in the Norwegian orchestra's early music programme since 2006. The album also contains an exemplary essay by the leading Caldara scholar Brian W Pritchard.

1. Laboravi in Gemitu Meo 2. Introduzione 3. Deh Sciogliete 4. Caro Giesu 5. E Morto Il Mio Giesu 6. In Mar Di Sangue Assorto 7. Io So, Che Intanto 8. O Redentor 9. Gioia la Cruda Morte 10. Larghetto - Allegro 11. Di Fosco, E Tetro Ammanto 12. Si Ravvisan 13. Largo 14. A Te, Vivendo 15. Io T'offesi 16. Si Chiuse Le Pupille 17. Lasciami, Eterno Amante 18. Mani Divine 19. Crudi Ferri 20. Crudi Ferri 21. Dogliosi Miei Sospiri 22. Ecco Svelati 23. Transf?ge Dulcissime 24. Sonata for 2 Violins and Viola in E Flat Major, RV130, 'Suonata a 4 Al Santo Sepolcro' 25. Fortunata Alma Mia 26. Languire, Morire 27. Amabile Mio Ben 28. Ah Ti Tradi 29. Tra Bianchi Lini Involto 30. Verde Tronco, Ove Lo Scuote 31. Vieni, Compagna Fida 32. Cari Marmi 33. Urna Gentil 34. Con Te Favello 35. Gelido Occaso 36. Restate in Pace 37. Adagio - Allegro 38. Da Questa Ombrosa Reggia 39. Passaggier, Qui Ferma Il Passo 40. Vedove Madri 41. La Pienezza De' Tempi