Vivaldi: L'Oracolo in Messenia

If you love Vivaldi this is a must have.

Another wonderful Vivaldi opera. The sound and singing is superlative. Although the original has not survived, the reconstruction is based on authentic sources and practices. For those who are not familiar with Vivaldi operas, these are wonderful pieces of music. While Mozart is considered the best composer over multiple musical genres, the publishing of more of Vivaldi's operas shows he is Mozart's equal, but from an earlier era.

The pairing of Fabio Biondi and Vivica Genaux is a gift to Vivaldi and everyone who enjoys him. Vivid, vibrant, and compelling performance.

Good side: Singers adequate or/and excellent. Take attention especially to Julia Lezhneva. She takes her two arias with perfect vocal technique.Bad side: Gasparini's music is mediocre even by baroque standards. Sound of live recording is flat - no air and depth...

L'Oracolo in Messenia, overo La Merope - opera in musica, RV 726Pastiche in three acts, music by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) - 11 numbers, and Germiniano Giacomelli (1692-1740) - 13 numbers, with one number by Riccardo Broschi (ca. 1698-1756, Farinelli's brother) and one by Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783).Libretto by Apostolo Zeno - sung in Italian; adapted from the libretto by the same author for Giacomelli's La Merope, in its turn derived from Euripide's tragedy Cresphontes.Premiered at the Teatro S. Angelo, Venice, 28 December 1737Vienna Version first performed at the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna, Carnival 1742Reconstruction of the Vienna version by Fabio BiondiOrchestra: period ensemble Europa Galante, conducted by Fabio Biondi (who also plays the violin), and made of three violins, viola, cello, double bass, oboe, bassoon, horn, theorbo, and harpsichordCastPolifonte, king of Messenia - Magnus Staveland, tenorMerope, queen of Messenia, widow of Cresfonte - Ann Hallenberg, mezzo-sopranoEpitide, son of Merope, disguised under the name of Cleon - Vivica Genaux, mezzo sopranoElmira, princess of Etolia - Romina Basso, mezzo-sopranoTrasimede, chief minister of Messenia - Julia Lezhneva, sopranoLicisco, ambassador from Etolia - Franziska Gottwald, mezzo-sopranoAnassandro, confidant of Polifonte - Xavier Sabata, countertenorRecorded live at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna, on 13-15 January 2012, as part of the Resonanzen festifal, by ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation), Radio Österreich IReleased on 2 CDs in 2012 by EMI Records / Virgin ClassicsLibretto included, in Italian, with side-by-side translations into English, French, and GermanThe insert includes color pictures of the conductor, the singers, and the ensemble; a 1-page essay about the opera authored by Fabio Biondi and Frédéric Delamea; a much longer 8-page essay about the opera, the composer, and the circumstances of composition, authored by Frédéric Delamea; a 2-page synopsis authored by Berhnhard Drobig; list of tracks with names of the arias, characters, and duration; sources for all numbers including who composed them, and from what opera they were lifted. All of the above come in English, French, and German, and everything is nicely packaged in a rigid box.Running times: CD 1 79:49 (Act I, Act II scenes 1-7), CD 2 76:52 (Act II scenes 8-14, Act III)Sound quality: impeccable, the highest possible, with perfect balance, clarity, and volume.-----------This recording is an admirable work. The score for Vivaldi's opera L'Oracolo in Messenia is lost. The libretto, however, survived, and Fabio Biondi reconstructed the opera as a pastiche, transplanting onto the words music from Giacomelli's opera La Merope, which is clever because there are hints that Vivaldi did just that, since his L'Oracolo in Messenia was a readaptation of Giacomelli's La Merope and may have had music directly borrowed from it - it was actually a pastiche as well. This practice of borrowing arias from other composers wasn't uncommon at the time, and there are numerous other examples of such in Vivaldi's works. Fabio Biondi also used music from Vivaldi's own operas, including Griselda, Catone in Utica, Motezuma, Dorilla in Tempe, Farnace (Ferrara version), and Semiramide. Two outstanding additional numbers come from Broschi's Artaserse, and Hasse's Siroe, re di Persia.Vivaldi wrote a first version of this opera for Venice (in very short notice, to savage his season after his Siroe, re di Persia fell apart in Ferrara thanks to the archbishop refusing to allow the composer into the city due to suspecting him of sinful relations with the singer Anna Girò), and it was greatly successful. The score for it is lost. It was received with "tumultuous applause" and "firm approval" according to the papers. In need for something guaranteed to be successful thanks to the financial difficulties brought about by the Ferrara fiasco, Vivaldi relied on Giacomelli's La Merope, given that it was a smashing triumph (in part, thanks to the casting of the two best castrati in town, Farinelli and Caffarelli).When Vivaldi decided to quit Venice (the circumstances are well explained in the insert) and move to Vienna, he thought he should take this particular opera with him, due to the fact that Zeno, the librettist, was a former poet laureate to the imperial court in Vienna. Besides, this was arguably Zeno's best libretto, described by the poet as "the least bad of my dramas." Vivaldi wanted to make an even better impression, and added three ballets and seven new arias, dropping three of the old ones (Fabio Biondi does conserve one of them - "S'in campo armato" - which only existed in the Venetian version). He also changed the name of one character - the princess Argia became Elmira.Vivaldi evidently hoped for the same success achieved in Venice for his Viennese version, since he wanted to impress the emperor. But fate decided otherwise: on 20 October 1740, before Vivaldi's premiere, Charles VI suddenly died, allegedly after eating poisonous mushrooms. All theaters in Vienna were closed down for one year, in sign of grieving for the emperor. Vivaldi made unsuccessful attempts to obtain a commission from the emperor's successor (Prince Anton Ulrich von Saxe-Meiningen). Without a sponsor, the composer plunged into financial turmoil, sold his scores at rock-bottom prices, and died himself shortly thereafter, receiving a pauper's funeral.Still, after the theaters reopened, Vivaldi's L'Oracolo in Messenia, Viennese version, did see the light of day. Apparently Prince Anton was remorseful for having brushed off Vivaldi, and Anna Girò, Vivaldi's loyal friend, also insisted that the opera should be staged (she sang the role of Merope). This posthumous production allowed the Viennese public to hear a moving postscript to the great composer's operatic career. And now, Fabio Biondi brings us what is likely to be a rather close approximation, because while the score for the second version is also lost, in the surviving libretto Vivaldi did give indications of what music he was planning to borrow for his pastiche.-----------The CDThe result of Fabio Biondi's work is extraordinary. In spite of the eclectic sources, Maestro Biondi's inspired mastery of the music from this period ensured excellent unity of style and great pace. He recovered most of the recitatives from La Merope, and everything flows smoothly. And of course, by lifting great music from several different operas, Fabio Biondi was able to put together a great collection of fabulous arias. Particularly notewhorty, for example, are the very energetic "Nel mar cosi funesta" from Vivaldi's Farnace, the agile coloratura of "Son qual nave" from Broschi's Artaserse, the sonorous "Spera quest'alma amante" from Giacomelli's La Merope, and the very rhythmic "Nell'orror di notte oscura" from Hasse's Siroe, re di Persia - but there are many others just as excellent, particularly in the second half of the work when things pick up speed and excitement. The overture is by Vivaldi and comes from Griselda, but unlike the original, is transposed to F major and uses horns.Add to the great music a very interesting libretto that actually has a compelling story with some intriguing twists, and you have a winner, as far as the opera is concerned.And then, to complete the pleasure, get a homogeneous cast of absolutely virtuosic singers accompanied by no less accomplished musicians, and package everything with a very complete insert that contains plenty of information about the work. The ice on the cake, deliver it with impeccable sound!What do you get? A highly recommended CD, of course. This is absolutely indispensable for lovers of music from this period.It is hard to say individual praise for each of the seven singers, because they are all incredibly - and equally - good. The expression "no weak links" hasn't been as appropriately used in a long time. We get a Vivica Genaux full of energy and incredibly agile. She steals the show several times over, and shines in many of her numbers. Ann Hallenberg is creamy and suave, but then explodes in fury when needed. Magnus Staveland with the only tenor role in a sea of mezzos, a soprano, and a contralto, holds very well the male-sounding part of the enterprise. Xavier Sabata, with a dark voice for a contralto, is a welcome surprise. Julia Lezhneva has a peculiar, delicate, and pleasant timbre, and together with Vivica Genaux, is arguably one of the two most dazzling singers in this recording - oh well, maybe I should say the three best, since Ann Hallenberg is also great! Romina Basso is able to convey good color (she is a bit breathy, though, but not to a bothersome point). Franziska Gottwald is very powerful and precise, especially in the fiendshly difficult "Nell'orror di notte oscura."The period ensemble Europa Galante is simply sublime, as is Biondi's dynamic direction.Like I said, early opera lover: you can't not have this CD in your collection.

L'affiche est exceptionnelle bien entendu, qui rassemble les meilleur.e.s solistes du moment. Et pourtant… Est-ce l'œuvre elle-même qui déçoit par rapport aux opéras antérieurs de Vivaldi ? Cela se peut. Surtout, la direction ne parvient pas à insuffler vie ni émotion à ce qui devient dès lors une suite d'airs et de récitatifs (nombreux et souvent mornes), sans rien qui emporte l'auditeur.

No puedo ser neutral en esto. Simplemente, me encanta.Esta grabación es la premiere mundial de la opera L'Oracolo in Messenia de Vivaldi a cargo del experto Fabio Biondi quien ha reconstruido la obra original utilizando diferentes fuentes, especialmente un libreto recientemente descubierto en la Libreria del Congreso de Washington. Esta extraordinaria grabación constituye un hito musical con artistas de primera fila como Ann Hallenberg, Vivica Genaux y Julia Lezhneva.

L'Oracolo in Messenia is not an opera by Vivaldi, nor even a pasticcio arranged by Vivaldi: it's a pasticcio arranged by Fabio Biondi, which perhaps resembles a work Vivaldi came to Vienna in 1741 to put on; but instead he died there. The named composer should properly be Giacomelli, who wrote most of the music - and very good it is too. I guess that giving a performance in Vienna, and having a good story to tell about Vivaldi's final months, were reasons why Biondi undertook this slightly odd exercise, but the main attraction must have been that he could hand-pick his singers, and hand-pick arias to suit them. If that was his intention, he succeeded brilliantly: what he has given us is an excellent display-case of current baroque singing.He uses five high voices, three of them well-known. Ann Hallenberg is the wronged Queen, who has four arias, fast, slow, furious and pathetic (in the 18th century way!) which she sings straight, with power and accuracy. It's one of her best outings on record. Vivica Genaux is the Queen's son in search of his kingdom and his love. She too gets four arias. I think of Genaux as DiDonato light, with too much inherent wobble for baroque singing, but she does well here, though sounding rather mature for a young hero. Romina Basso (a rather short allowance of three arias) is the love-interest. She deploys her dark, powerful instrument as intelligently as ever and is a pleasure to hear.Franziska Gottwald (labelled mezzo, but, like Romina Basso, more of an alto) I have only heard once before (she sang at the Gottingen Festival in 2006) but on this evidence I want to hear more. She sings a straight clear line and in her three arias shows an ability to sing accurate low coloratura which ought to make her an ideal Senesino-substitute. That leaves Julia Lezhneva, about ten years younger than the others, the only voice labelled soprano. She gets just two arias, but both are extreme display-pieces. The first is seven-minute burst of light machine-gun fire by Farinelli's brother Riccardo Broschi, a bit of nonsense Lezhneva sings so well that you believe it's music: the second is an aria actually by Vivaldi (one of the few), a bravura piece with horns, which lets Lezhneva demonstrate her uncanny abilities in baroque coloratura and ornament. Her colleagues do very well in these departments - the general standard is as high as I have heard on disc - but Lezhneva is something else.The small band plays with fire and unanimity and Biondi keeps things moving. We're told the recording is from concert performances but you wouldn't know it, except for one or two audible digital tape-joins. The audio quality is excellent, with a good allowance of air around the voices.Downsides? I don't much care for the tenor, who gets four arias, or the falsettist, who gets one. There's too much recitative (as usual in Vivaldi). These problems are easily solved with the next-track button.

Chi cercasse d'immaginare quale fosse la temperie musicale che imperava nei fantasmagorici anni dell'opera del 700, può farsene un'esaustiva idea (seppure supposta) ascoltando questi due CD di Biondi con la sua incalzante Europa Galante. Benchè "L'Oracolo in Messenia" sia un "pasticcio" (prassi comunissima in quel periodo) confezionato abilmente dal Prete Rosso, quest'opera scorre fluida e appagante, dipanando il rosario delle sue piroteniche arie senza mai stancare. Per chi ama il barocco musicale, quest'incisione della Virgin sollecita il palato e lo soddisfa ampiamente grazie agli interpreti valenti e alla direzione sapiente e sostenuta di Fabio Biondi. Buonissima l'incisione. (Ma sarà stata veramente ripresa dal vivo come riporta la pubblicazione?)Giorgio Valenti

Grande Musica e belle voci. Fabio Biondi si dimostra a proprio agio anche con altre formazioni.Questa registrazione rimane comunque per appassionati in quanto questa composizione vivaldiana è ben distante da quelle migliori che già conosciamo.Onore al merito di questa produzione che ci offre una pagina musicale che avremmo faticato a trovare su disco.Qualità audio discreta in quanto risulta leggermente "spigolosa" forse a causa una equalizzazione asciutta.....Spedizione Amazon oramai "proverbiale": bravissimi!!