Scarlatti Alto Cantatas CD

Alessandro Scarlatti: Alto Cantatas / Martellacci, Sasso / Composer: Alessandro Scarlatti / Conductor: Giorgio Sasso / Orchestra/Ensemble: Insieme Strumentale di Roma / Number of Discs: 1 / Length: 1 Hours 7 Mins. The author of around 800 cantatas, Alessandro Scarlatti was the most prolific composer of this particular chamber genre during the Baroque period. In this engaging release we are introduced to two examples, both 'with instruments' and written for solo contralto, the voice type to which the Sicilian dedicated a mere 10 per cent of his cantata output. Perch? tacete, regolati concenti is the first, a work that corresponds to the typically 17th-century themes of unrequited or unhappy love, with both the character and the music expressing the feeling of grief that underpins the text. The prose is actually quite weak in comparison to the quality of the music, and it may be that Scarlatti wrote it himself: he was, after all, described in the wording of his admission to the Arcadia as a µprofessor or poetry?. It is in any case an early composition; the second cantata, Filen, mio caro bene, we know was written later, on account of its style as well as Arcadian subject matter (which by then was in vogue: the work is set in a natural context). Complementing these works are a couple of concertos and sonatas by the composer, each set in a minor key. An all-Italian cast are at hand to perform the program, with alto Gabriella Martellacci ? who has appeared as a guest performer with such prestigious orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ? taking the lead in the cantatas. Recorded: October 2012, Basilica dei Santi Bonifacio e Alessio, Rome, Italy. For a long time, Alessandro Scarlatti merely was ?the father of÷ the more celebrated Domenico Scarlatti (the composer of 555 keyboard sonatas), but in recent years his genius as composer of an immense vocal oeuvre is widely recognized. Alessandro wrote some 800 cantatas for solo voice and instrumental ensemble, dramatic works on secular texts, dealing mainly with unrequited love, and the resulting grief and melancholy, exquisitely expressed in beautiful cantabile lines. The two Cantatas on this new recording (which also contains concertos and an instrumental sonata) are sung by the famous Italian alto Gabriella Martellacci, a household name in the Early Music scene, a regular guest with ensembles like Concerto Italiano (Rinaldo Alessandrini) and Modo Antiquo (Federico Maria Sardelli).

1. Moderato - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 2. Fugue - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 3. Largo - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 4. Andante - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 5. Andante - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 6. Sinfonia - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 7. Recitative - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 8. Aria - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 9. Recitative - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 10. Ritornello and Aria - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 11. Recitative - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 12. Aria - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 13. Recitative - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 14. Aria - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 15. Allegro Ma Non Troppo - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 16. Grave - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 17. Vivace - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 18. Sinfonia - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 19. Recitative - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 20. Aria. Adagio - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 21. Recitative - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 22. Aria. Andante Moderato - Gabriella Martellacci/Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 23. Allegro - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 24. Grave - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 25. Allegro - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 26. Minuet - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 27. Allegro - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 28. Largo - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 29. Fugue - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 30. Largo - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma 31. Allegro - Insieme Strumentale Di Roma