Specialising, as I
do, in nineteenth century Italian opera,
occasionally a disk or opera set comes
along with the words ‘world premiere
recording’. These provide an interesting
challenge quite distinct from yet another
Barber of Seville or Rigoletto.
If it is a composer I am familiar with,
I will know where the work fits in his
oeuvre and what I might expect as I
listen to the first of several hearings.
In other words I have a base framework
from which to work and in which to make
my comments. This recital is different
and is the nearest I have come for a
long time to it deserving the imprimatur
of ‘unique’.
Rossini wrote only
once for a castrato when he agreed to
compose an opera for the opening of
the 1813 Carnival Season on 26 December
at La Scala. It was his twelfth opera,
immediately following Tancredi and
L’Italiana in Algeri, both
premiered to acclaim in Venice earlier
the same year. He also hoped for a success
to follow that of La Pietra del Paragone
that had gone down well the year before
at La Scala. With the famous male soprano
Giovanni Battista Velluti on the roster
Rossini wrote for him the role of Arsace,
Prince of Persia in his new work, Aureliano
in Palmira. Velluti was probably
the last of the great castrati and his
ego often overcame his aesthetic appreciation
of the music he had to sing. In consequence
he was renowned for excessive vocal
decoration and embellishments. His doing
so at the premiere of Aureliano ensured
that thereafter Rossini did not permit
singers this extravagant indulgence
but wrote down the ornaments he was
prepared to allow. Whether Velluti’s
excesses contributed to the lack of
enthusiasm for the work we do not know.
It was not an out and out failure being
performed fourteen times in the Scala
season and elsewhere in Italy. Velluti
sang the role when the opera was given
in London in 1826.
Elsewhere in his operas
Rossini wrote trousers or breeches roles.
These, such as the eponymous hero in
Tancredi, Arsace in Semiramide
(1823) and Malcolm, Elena’s lover in
La donna del lago, are featured
here. Writing for the contralto
or mezzo voices allowed Rossini to reflect
a wide range of emotions from the heroic
and dramatic to the reflective. The
concept of a counter-tenor singing operatic
roles, particularly in Handel is not
new, but is a relatively recent phenomenon
with other variants also to be seen
and heard. In the revival of Maometto
Secondo at La Fenice in 2005,
Condulmiero, a Venetian general and
a role written for a tenor, was sung
by Nicola Marchesini, described as cotralista
or male falsetist. Whether this was
to get round the problem of casting
a comprimario role with such high tessitura
I do not know, but in my review
I was equivocal as to the vocal suitability
and dramatic impact. I am similarly
minded in respect of Max Emanuel Cencic’s
efforts here. Yes, he has a florid technique
but compare his chest strength and penetration
with that of say Ewa Podles in her 1998
live recital with a chamber orchestra;
Cencic with a period band is not in
the same league in the three arias common
to both recitals (trs 1, 5, 8). Nor
are his singing in the extracts from
La donna del lago in any way
comparable with that of Patricia Bardon
on Opera Rara’s superb recording of
the work (Review).
Cencic lacks the capacity to portray
the emotions of the role (Review).
His florid singing and somewhat disembodied
tone militate against realisation and
characterisation. His coloratura is
good in the extracts from Aureliano
in Palmira, albeit that the very
top of his voice is not wholly secure,
but I suggest that those items alone
do not justify a disc of this experimental
nature.
Cencic sings on only
six of the nine tracks. The overtures,
played with vigour, occupy twenty-four
minutes. The Ensemble Vocal Le Motet
de Genève makes a significant
contribution to the second item from
Semiramide (tr. 9). The recording
is clear and well balanced.
Robert J Farr
Max Emanuel Cencic (counter-tenor) 
