Porpora reviews
Cieco Amor
Sergio Foresti (baritone); Abchordis Ensemble/Andrea Buccarella (Challenge Classics)
Contralto (Nathalie Stutzmann)
Nathalie Stutzmann (contralto); Orfeo 55 (Erato)
Porpora: L’amato nome – Cantatas for the Prince of Wales
Francesca Cassinari, Emanuela Galli, Giuseppina Bridelli, Marina De Liso; Stile Galante/Stefano Aresi (Glossa)
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Porpora: Germanico in Germania
Max Emanuel Cenčić, Julia Lezhneva, Mary-Ellen Nesi, Juan Sancho, Dilyara Idrisova, Hasnaa Bennani; Capella Cracoviensis/Jan Tomasz Adamus (Decca)
Caro Gemello: Farinelli and Metastasia
Valer Sabadus; Concerto Köln (Sony)
The English Concert (Bicket)
Katharina Spreckelsen, Nadja Zwiener, Tumo Sami, Alfonso Leal del Ojo, Joseph Crouch; The English Concert/Harry Bicket (Signum Classics)
Farinelli (Cecilia Bartoli)
Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano); Il Giardino Armonico/Giovanni Antonini (Decca)
Dolce Duello: Cecilia Bartoli in friendly rivalry with Sol Gabetta
Despite its sugary title and frothy cover, this disc features music-making of the highest order and a rigorously researched programme of Baroque arias with obbligato cello – a sweet duel (or ‘dolce duello’) between the human voice and the then young instrument, oft praised for its vocal qualities. Long-term friends and colleagues, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli and cellist Sol Gabetta make for valiant duelling partners who converse, parry and riposte in spirited combat.
Bringing Handel’s sopranos to life
‘Crowe and Bevan recreate two prime donne through their own blazing talents’