One of the most grown-up review sites around

2020
54,416 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here

     
  
 

 

International mailing


 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW
Plain text for smartphones
and printers


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All APR reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

 

 

 

Support us financially by purchasing this disc from:

Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741)
O mie porpore più belle RV 685 [9:27]
Cessate, omai cessate RV 684 [13:18]
Care selve, amici prati RV671 [11:06]
Alla Caccia dell’alme e de’ cori RV 670 [10:05]
Amor, hai vinto RV 683 [16:18]
Domenico SCARLATTI (1685-1757)
Pur nel sonno almen tal’ora [20:18]
Tinte a note di sangue [13:48]
Scritte con falso inganno [10:46]
Dir vorrei [15:39]
Antonio CALDARA (1671-1736)
Sempre mi torna in mente [14:03]
Non v’è pena [13:01]
Da tuoi lumi [6:00]
Chiacona - instrumental [5:37]
Amante recidivo (Che speravi) [11:49]
Vedrò senz’onde il mare [10:28]
DVD - Max Emanuel Cencic: The Portrait [62:00]
Subtitles: German, French, English
Picture Format NTSC Colour 4:3;
DVD Format DVD5:
Sound Format 2.0 stereo [62:00]
Max Emanuel Cencic (counter-tenor)
Ornamente 99/Karsten Erik Ose
rec. April 2003, Cologne, German Radio, Funkhaus, Sendesaal (Vivaldi); October 2004, St Hubertus Catholic Church, Düsseldorf Itter (Scarlatti); October 2004 Cologne, German Radio, Funkhaus, Sendesaal (Caldara)
Texts and translations included
CAPRICCIO C7142 [60:34 + 60:33 + 61:49 + DVD 62:00]

Experience Classicsonline



This series of Italian cantatas by three eminent contemporaries makes for refined and focused listening. Each composer, Vivaldi, Scarlatti and Caldara is given one disc, lasting an hour. The final disc is a DVD documentary devoted to the counter-tenor, Max Emanuel Cencic.

Cencic is one of the leading counter-tenors of his generation, a virtuoso of the first rank, and one whose voice is fit to be described as that of a male mezzo-soprano. More to the point perhaps, and a matter beyond mere nomenclature, is the fact that it marries virtuosity with colour. The result is singing of great reach and range, in which verbal sensitivity and bravura execution are usually put at the service of the music. Despite his capacity for florid operatic gestures, in these cantatas, even those which subsume some operatic mores, Cencic remains a wholly sympathetic interpreter.
 
It helps that in Ornamente 99, directed by Karsten Erik Ose, he has personable and instrumentally rich colleagues. The avian flutes in Vivaldi’s O mie porpore più belle offer rich support, and so too does the solo violin in the last aria, in which devotion and panache are allied. Cencic’s instinct for the dramatic is exemplified by Cessate, omai cessate where one finds that he cannily deploys his lower chest voice to generate an almost operatic tension. Elsewhere in these incisive, dramatic Vivaldi cantatas, one finds Cencic’s divisions spot-on, his legato pure and unwavering, and his recitatives excellently paced. Ose allows his obbligato players full rein where needed; bassoon and cello especially. He also galvanizes his strings in the stormy Amor, hai vinto, a ‘sea tossed’ cantata ripely encouraging surging string interjections. The strumming sea wash is excellently conveyed. In this Vivaldi selection I would only question the tempo for Preso sei mio, the last of the two arias of Alla Caccia dell’alme e de’ cori. Surely it’s too slow?

Domenico Scarlatti was another master of the Italian cantata as his four examples demonstrate. His are somewhat more extensive settings than the handful of Vivaldi works in the genre. In Pur nel sonno almen tal’ora he even writes an orchestral introduction, a feature Vivaldi didn’t indulge in his more compact settings. Again the instrumental playing is deftly pointed, not least the flute playing. The emotive instability of the final aria of Tinte a note di sangue - in which plangency is abruptly overtaken by fast divisions, and then back again - is excellently realised, without a hint of over-theatricality. Scarlatti gives his vocal soloist plenty of fast divisions to surmount and this means that ensemble with instrumental soloists needs to be at the highest pitch of engagement, which here it is.

Caldara was another supremely gifted writer for the voice and in his Sempre mi torna in mente he ensures that the solo violin interplays with the singer. In fact this whole sonata witnesses a range of obbligato opportunities for expressive instrumental commentary. The accompanying orchestral colours in Non v’è pena provide a rich texture for Cencic, and here he sounds not unlike David Daniels. Caldara writes beautifully for bassoon and for the chalumeau, both of which are elegantly played, and provide a wider range of colour.
 
Throughout these three discs, in fact, the performances are exemplary.
 
The DVD introduces us to the man behind the singer. He was born in Zagreb, the son of a conductor father. He began to sing early and there is numerous film here of him as a child and young man. His enthusiasm for opera is paramount, and his first musical thrill was hearing the Queen of the Night’s famous aria. Later he moved to Austria and sang in the Vienna Boys Choir, touring worldwide. He attributes the real start of his career to a Japanese tour in 1992. He suffered a crisis and depression, during which he withdrew from music, but returned renewed. He finds concert performances ‘sterile’ but opera enchanting. He is an aesthete. Music, cooking, florid gowns and interior design are passions - clearly he’d be no good on the rugby field - and he has ideas about a shared Renaissance-based European identity. He cites Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal as sharing it, so it’s too bad if you’re from the cold Protestant North - though I suspect the rheumy-eyed Dutch and British would think Cencic somewhat affected, to put the thing mildly.

If you’re an admirer of singer and repertoire then this box will prove extremely enticing.
 
Jonathan Woolf  

Support us financially by purchasing this disc from:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Pat and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.