Baldassare Galuppi
may be little more than a footnote in
the history books but during his lifetime
he was highly regarded. He was known
in the main as a composer of comic operas,
collaborating with the playwright Goldoni.
He also wrote serious operas and was
even invited to the King’s Theatre in
London’s Haymarket where he was highly
successful for a number of years. He
wrote other kinds of music as well and
there seem to be some other CDs available
at present: La
Diavolessa, Il
Mondo alla Roversa, Messe
per San Marco, complete harpsichord
concertos and a disc with motets. Also
we should not forget Peter Seivewright’s
Divine Art project to record the complete
piano sonatas – all ninety of them –
across ten CDs. The first three volumes
have already been issued: Divine Art
25006,
25007
and 25015.
The disc under consideration
offers a glimpse of his operae serie
plus a couple of other arias. Performed
by the extremely accomplished Catherine
King and the period instrument ensemble
Il canto di Orfeo, it is a knock-out.
The band: solo strings, theorbo, harpsichord
and occasionally supplemented by two
natural trumpets and an oboe, play with
an energy and freshness that strikes
the listener dumb with amazement. The
fast and dramatic music, of which there
is a lot, is almost frantic, which doesn’t
mean that it is unsubtle. They can also
be quite sensitive in more contemplative
moments. But it is the rhythmically
incisive and explosively powerful music
that hits the listener right in solar
plexus, like a hard-rock band in full
flight – though more merciful to your
eardrums.
Catherine King is anything
but the anaemic thin-voiced creature
one sometimes associates with the baroque.
Here is a large vibrant voice with superb
technique, wide range and an almost
animal intensity in the more forceful
music. She can also achieve a beautifully
soft effect when in lyrical mood. Most
of the arias are of the da capo type:
A-B-A, where she often embellishes the
melodic line quite extensively when
the A section is repeated. The beautiful
Di madre ai cari amplessi (tr.
2) is a good example. At the other end
of the scale the high strung Ah,
di Lete dall’onda profonda (tr.
6) from an oratorio is dramatic, dark
and sung furioso. The deeply
expressive text by an unknown author
is also something to revel in:
Ah, from the deep waves of the
Lete,
What delays you? Away, you Furies,
come,
Tear this heart from my breast,
Which cannot ever have peace.
Make a cruel massacre of it,
You raging fierce furies, come,
fly;
All I ask, all I care about, all
I desire for myself
Is slaughter, death and ruination.
One shudders – which
Ms King does not. She throws herself
wholeheartedly into the text and music
with marvellously assured singing. There
are obviously no technical obstacles
for her.
In Voi che languite
(tr. 7), with a fine orchestral
introduction and beautiful melodic line,
she explores the lowest range of her
voice to good effect. Cedo alla sorte
(tr. 8) to a Metastasio text, is again
fast and vital with trumpets lending
a martial touch, where both the wind
and the sea are enemies. Towards the
end the trumpets imitate the unhappy
but intense singer.
The concluding two
arias from Antigono, again with
words by Metastasio, are nicely contrasted:
the first elegiac and self-pitying:
There is in groaning
and weeping
A shadow of pleasure;
the second fast and vengeful – but in
a subtle way:
Although it is only right that I
should take revenge,
My contempt entices me in vain:
Revenge has too dear a price
When the cost is cowardice.
My heart has already taken its revenge
On you with more subtle weapons,
By controlling its contempt,
And allowing you to go on living.
The whole aria bubbles
with life.
The two concerti, which
in a way become resting points between
the high octane dramatic outpourings,
are musically contrasting but similar
in overall structure: a slow, elegiac
first movement, marked Grave,
a more lively second movement (Spiritoso)
and a whirling Allegro rounding
it off. In the B flat major concerto
there are some inventive sound effects
in the finale: some pizzicato playing,
a miaowing violin and some daring dissonances.
Good notes are provided
in three languages and we get all the
sung texts with translations. Everyone
interested in baroque opera or accomplished
singing in general needs to hear this
disc, which functions as a mental equivalent
to a vitamin injection at the health
centre.
Göran Forsling
Catherine King (mezzo) 
