Gelosia! Italian Cantatas
This generous recital from Philippe Jaroussky, accompanied by his Artaserse, presents two world premieres, works by Galuppi and Porpora, alongside works by Alessandro Scarlatti, G.F. Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi. The recital ends up being a great survey of the genre of a solo dramatic cantata, from the middle to the end of the Baroque period.
These cantatas each showcase a genre for literate society, something we can think of as miniature, chamber operas for one singer. In this case, the common theme is jealousy, but these cantatas are often about matters of love. The key, of course, being that literate listeners would already have some familiarity with the characters and their stories from poetry and classical antiquity. The music therefore was there to meet or exceed our expectations with emotional signals with the characters’ plights, needs, and expressions. It’s therefore difficult for us today to experience these pieces in the same way that one might have experienced them in the day.
Among the styles represented here, Galuppi represents the evolution of baroque style, writing melody-forward arias. I wouldn’t go so far to describe his style as galante, but there is a forward leaning aspect to his style. In Giura il nocchier it’s difficult to not hear the spirit of Mozart.
Galuppi would replace Vivaldi as Venice’s darling. The Vivaldi cantata, Cessate omai cessate RV 684 is the only piece I was familiar with before auditioning this recording. It was popular in its day, and has been well-recorded by HIPP ensembles. It’s kind of a full-circle moment for Jaroussky, whose first recording with Artaserse was music by Vivaldi. His last movement ends up being a bit more dramatic than what I remember from other singers.
The big aria in the Porpora cantata, Bei labbri, che Amore… features an obligato violin part, which is strongly played with a nice sound to the instrument. The cantata starts with a short, energetic sinfonia, which too is well played. Knowing that Porpora was an important composer of opera for castrati, paired here against he likes of the more familiar Scarlatti, Vivaldi, and Handel, I appreciated his writing and compositional abilities. The loose dialog between violin and voice is well-done.
Like Galuppi, Porpora can write tuneful arias.
Jaroussky appears dead center in the soundstage, with continuo on the right and the violins and flute (in the Handel) on the left. It’s a gorgeous recording, sound wise, with reasonable depth. It’s as if the Arcadian Academy has come to set up in my living room.
My favorite piece in this recording was the cantata by Handel, HWV 132c. The first of two arias comes fourth in the line-up, with both arias featuring obligato parts for flute. Serge Saïtta’s playing features a gorgeous tone and sensitive playing, offering a nice foil to Jaroussky’s voice. It’s placement a few feet back among the ensemble gives us even more depth to the album’s sound, but also offers an ideal balance between the instrument and the the singer.
Yes, Handel’s writing showcases a style a generation behind Popora, but it’s Handel. It’s great writing. More so for me than Alessandro Scarlatti, Handel is writing to support the text in a more direct way. And even though he represents the oldest composer in the recital, I found his tuneful arias creating a bookend to the style Galuppi embraces a generation later.
For listeners today, you really can’t understand what a singer is or isn’t doing with the music unless you follow the text. At one point, the violins play sul ponticello and the text tells us why. It’s in the recitatives where we’re looking for vocal inflections, pauses, or any of what we might call rhetorical gestures that a singer brings to the text to connect that text to a recognizable emotion. There were a few moments where I thought Jaroussky might have given us more, but we are in fact missing another aspect of observing these pieces being performed. Like an opera, you almost want to see the singer in addition to hearing him, to see what facial or bodily gestures they are using to communicate with the audience.
As far as the countertenor voice, Mr. Jaroussky has a very recognizable sound, one that I will admit I like a lot, and many others likely do as well. This album I think well-highlights his timbre, alongside his range. I enjoyed the da capos where he’s able to provide variation in the repeated stanzas.
This album was well-programmed, combining the familiar with the new. In addition to the fine performances themselves, as a collection they do well to showcase a specific genre of vocal art. And while the texts themselves and the stories are anything but deep and profound, they do explore recognizable emotions with regard to matters of love.
This album would stand out with Jaroussky’s singing alone, but the musicians he brought together were extraordinarily strong, I thought. This sets a high mark for this genre of music.
I found listening to one of these cantatas repeated for a time helped me better appreciate each piece. Hearing them back to back almost takes away from each cantata’s charm.
However you listen, it’s rarely done this well. An enjoyable experience musically and sonically.
