Given that I was listening to this CD at much the same time as I was getting
to know Lawrence Zazzo’s recital A Royal Trio, comparisons
were both natural and inevitable. Of these two superb counter-tenors,
Fagioli perhaps has the greater sheer virtuosity, vocal range and
brilliance of articulation. Zazzo is, finally – to make a judgement
primarily on the evidence of these two CDs, though I would say the
same in the light of other work I have heard by the two – the
more musical singer. He is the more subtle of the two and the more
eloquent in the interpretation of the text and notes — and the
relationship between the two — he is singing. If truth be told,
where these two specific CDs are concerned, the music on Zazzo’s
disc is, on the whole, more rewarding, more profound, more emotionally
engaging than that on Fagioli’s disc. Porpora was famous in
his own day both as a composer and as teacher of singers including
such legendary performers as Senesino and Farinelli. At times, Porpora
the composer seems a little too eager to over-indulge the singer,
to create a framework for vocal display more than for dramatic or
psychological exploration.
In the interesting essay he contributes to the booklet of this CD
Stefano Aresi is evidently conscious that such criticism has been,
and might still be, levelled at Porpora’s music. He observes
that two of the arias Fagioli includes “come from one of Porpora’s
masterpieces, Polifemo (1735), written in the London milieu
around the librettist Paolo Rolli, in which the composer was able
to break away to a large extent from the theatrical usages of the
continent and feel free to experiment with new formal and expressive
paths”. It is true, as Aresi goes on to say, that ‘Nell’attendere
il mio bene’ and ‘Alto Giove’ have a true dramatic
power and that Porpora’s music deepens and articulates the significance
of his text in an almost Handelian manner. However, the very fact
that the argument has to be made in this fashion silently concedes
that such claims cannot always be made for much of the music Porpora
wrote in other places and years. I cannot claim that my study of Porpora’s
music has been extensive, but the impression I have formed —
and the impression is confirmed in listening to this CD — is
of a composer of great technical skill and facility but perhaps lacking
in a distinctive and individual vision of his own. As such he tends
to, as it were, take his colouring from his different surroundings
— like a kind of musical chameleon — at different times
in his career. Aresi himself writes of another of the arias here (‘‘A
voi ritorno campagne amene’) that it was “designed to
suit the old-fashioned tastes of the Viennese court of Charles VI”
and that a further aria (‘Torbido intorno al core’) “from
Meride e Silunte, performed at Venice in 1726” is an
example “of the ‘new’ Neapolitan style that became
dominant in Venice … in the mid 1720s”. Most baroque composers
had to adapt themselves to different fashions and audience expectations,
but the greatest of them retained, and developed, throughout their
careers a coherent and distinctive ‘voice’ of their own
beneath or ‘beyond’ such adaptations. Porpora doesn’t
really seem to have done so, for all his undoubted skill and his understanding
of the voice.
As such, what we are left with on much of this admittedly enjoyable
disc is primarily ‘display’ pieces. In Fagioli they find
a singer who relishes them for what they are. I wouldn’t want
my reservations about Porpora’s music to put off any listener
with an interest in high-class vocalism generally or in the counter-tenor
in particular from giving a listen to this CD. It contains some extraordinary
singing. The very first track, ‘Se tu la reggi al volo’
from Ezio, is startling in its complex melismas and Fagioli’s
sudden ascents and descents across his considerable range. The technical
gifts of the modern counter-tenor have increased enormously in the
last few years and Fagioli is undoubtedly one of the new masters.
‘Già si desta la tempesta’, from Didone abbandonata
is an aria as stormy as any in Baroque opera, both vocally and orchestrally
— the effects aided by a wind machine — even if, as is
often the case with Porpora one finally finds it a little lightweight
emotionally. Of the range of colours, the power and the agile vigour
in Fazioli’s singing — and, indeed, in the playing of
the Academia Montis Regalis conducted by Alessandro de Marchi —
there is absolutely no doubt to be felt or reservation to be made.
Fagioli is fully in control of what sounds like a range of at least
three octaves.
So, superb singing and impressive orchestral playing, but it doesn’t
finally persuade me that Porpora is a major composer.
Glyn Pursglove
Track listing
‘Se tu la reggi al volo’ (from Ezio, 1728) [3:41]
‘Vorrei spiegar l’affanno’ (from Semiramide
riconosciuta, 1729) [6:31]
‘Già si desta la tempesta’ (from Didone abbandonata,
1725) [3:49]
‘Torbido intorno al core’ (from Meride e Selinunte,
1726) [7:57]
‘Il pastor se torna aprile’ (from Semiramide
riconosciuta, 1729) [7:15]
‘Distillatevi o cieli’ (from Il verbo in carne,
1748) [6:45]
‘Con alma intrepida’ (from Meride e Selinunte,
1726) [3:42]
‘A voi ritorno campagne amene’ (from Il ritiro)
[7:42]
‘Nell’attendere il mio bene’ (from Polifemo,
1735) [5:28]
‘Alto Giove’ (from Polifemo, 1735) [9:13]
‘Spesso di nubi cinto’ (from Carlo il Calvo,
1738) [7:46]
‘Non lasciar chi t’ama tanto’ (from Vulcano,
c.1734) [9:56]
