Alan Curtis - Gluck: Ezio (2011) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist
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CD1
01. Ezio, Wq. 15: Sinfonia, 1. Allegro
02. Ezio, Wq. 15: Sinfonia, 2. Andante
03. Ezio, Wq. 15: Sinfonia, 3. Allegro di molto
04. Ezio, Wq. 15: Marcia
05. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 1: Recitativo, "Signor, vincemmo" (Ezio, Valentiniano)
06. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 1: No. 1, Aria, "Se tu la reggi al volo" (Valentiniano)
07. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 2: Recitativo, "Ezio, lascia ch'io stringa" (Massimo, Ezio, Fulvia)
08. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 2: No. 2, Aria, "Pensa a serbarmi, o cara" (Ezio)
09. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 3: Recitativo, "E soffrirai che sposa abbia la figlia" (Fulvia, Massimo)
10. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 3: No. 3, Aria, "Caro padre, a me non dei" (Fulvia)
11. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 4: No. 4, Recitativo accompagnato, "Pria che sorga l'aurora" (Massimo)
12. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 5: Recitativo, "Ezio sappia ch'io bramo seco parlar" (Valentiniano, Massimo)
13. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 5: No. 5, Aria, "Se povero il ruscello" (Massimo)
14. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 6: Recitativo, "Del Ciel felice dono" (Valentiniano, Ezio)
15. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 6: No. 6, Aria, "So chi t'accese; basta per ora" (Valentiniano)
16. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 7: Recitativo, "Vedrem se ardisce ancora" (Ezio, Fulvia)-Recitativo, "Fulvia, ti vuol sua sposa" (Onoria, Fulvia, Ezio)
17. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 8: No. 7, Aria, "Se fedele mi brama il regnante" (Ezio)
18. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 9: Recitativo, "A Cesare nascondi" (Fulvia, Onoria)
19. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 9: No. 8, Aria, "Ancor non mremi il soglio" (Onoria)
20. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 10: Recitativo, "Via, per mio danna aduna" (Fulvia)
21. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 1 Scene 10: No. 9, Aria, "Finché un zeffiro soave" (Fulvia)

CD2
01. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 1: Recitativo, "Qual silenzio è mai questo!" (Massimo, Fulvia)-Recitativo, "Ogni via custodite, ed ogni ingresso" (Valentiniano, Massimo, Fulvia)-Recitativo, "Cesare, invano il traditor cercai" (Varo, Valentini
02. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 3: No. 10, Aria , "Dubbioso amante" (Valentiniano)
03. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 4: Recitativo, "E puoi d'un tuo delitto" (Fulvia, Massimo)
04. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 4: No. 11, Aria, "Va' dal furor portata" (Massimo)
05. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 5: Recitativo, "Che fo? Dove mi volgo?" (Fulvia, Ezio)-Recitativo, "Varo, che rechi?" (Fulvia, Ezio, Varo)
06. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 6: No. 12, Aria, "Recagli quell'acciaro" (Ezio)
07. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 7: Recitativo, "Folle è colui che al tuo favor si fida" (Varo)
08. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 7: No. 13, Aria, "Nasce al bosco in rozza cuna" (Varo)
09. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 8: Recitativo, "Olà, qui si conduca il prigionier" (Valentiniano, Fulvia, Massimo)-Recitativo, "Stelle, che miro!" (Ezio, Valentiniano, Fulvia, Massimo)
10. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 9: No. 14, Aria, "Ecco alle mie catene" (Ezio)
11. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 10: Recitativo, "Ingratissima donna!" (Valentiniano, Massimo, Fulvia)
12. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 2 Scene 10: No. 15, Terzetto, "Passami il cor, tiranno!" (Fulvia, Massimo, Valentiniano)
13. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 1: Recitativo, "E ben, da quel superbo" (Valentiniano, Onoria)
14. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 1: No. 16, Aria, "Peni tu per un'ingrata" (Onoria)
15. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 2: Recitativo, "Olà, Varo si chiami" (Valentiniano, Varo)-Recitativo, "Signor, tutto sedai" (Massimo, Valentiniano, Ezio)-Recitativo, "Vedi qual dono" (Valentiniano, Ezio, Massimo, Fulvia)
16. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 4: No. 17, Aria, "Per la memoria del tuo perdono" (Ezio)
17. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 5: Recitativo, "Generoso monarco, il Ciel ti renda" (Fulvia, Valentiniano)-Recitativo, "Varo, eseguisti il cenno?" (Valentiniano, Varo, Fulvia)-Recitativo, "Liete novelle, Augusto" (Onoria, Valentiniano, Massim
18. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 8: No. 18, Aria, "Per tutto il timore" (Valentiniano)
19. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 9: Recitativo, "Partì una volta" (Massimo, Fulvia)
20. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 9: No. 19, Aria, "Tergi l’ingiuste lagrime" (Massimo)
21. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 10: Recitativo accompagnato, "Misera dove son!" (Fulvia)
22. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 10: No. 20, Aria, "Ah, non son io che parlo" (Fulvia)
23. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 11: Recitativo, "Inorridisci, o Roma" (Massimo, Varo)-Recitativo, "Ah traditori! Amico" (Valentiniano, Massimo, Fulvia)-Recitativo, "Cesare viva" (Ezio, Varo, Fulvia, Valentiniano, Massimo, Onoria)
24. Ezio, Wq. 15, Act 3 Scene 13: No. 21, Coro, "Della vita nel dubbio camino" (Ezio, Varo, Fulvia, Valentiniano, Massimo, Onoria)

Alan Curtis, described by the New York Times’ as “one of the great scholar-musicians of recent times”, conducts a brilliant cast including Sonia Prina, Ann Hallenberg, Max-Emanuel Cencic and Topi Lehtipuu in the original, 1750 version of Gluck’s Ezio, described by Curtis as “from a dramatic point of view, perhaps the finest of Gluck’s pre-Orfeo operas”.

Alan Curtis, described by the New York Times’ as “one of the great scholar-musicians of recent times”, feels that Gluck’s opera Ezio is “from a dramatic point of view, perhaps the finest of Gluck’s pre-Orfeo operas.” This recording presents the original version of Ezio, which received its premiere in Prague in 1750, some 12 years before Gluck’s revolutionary Orfeo ed Euridice was seen in Vienna.

Written to a libretto by the prolific and influential Metastasio, Ezio exemplifies the formal opera seria that Gluck sought to leave behind with his so-called reform operas such as Orfeo and Alceste; but after Orfeo’s epoch-making premiere in Vienna in 1762 he revised Ezio for performance at the city’s Burgtheater in 1763.

“Gluck’s revisions to Ezio were not motivated not by any dissatisfaction with the work itself, but by the larger size of the Burgtheater and the concomitant need for a larger orchestra,” explains Alan Curtis. “Ezio is one of Metastasio's most dramatic operas. It is also one of the few with a plot totally lacking any absurdities or situations which modern listeners could find difficult to accept. An unfortunate aspect of the later version is the omission of the magnificent aria for the tenor, Massimo – ‘Se povero il ruscello’. Gluck had adapted it for Orfeo, where it became ‘Che puro ciel’, so the Viennese public already knew it too well. We are especially happy to be able to include it in this new recording, sung magnificently by Topi Lehtipuu.”

Curtis provides illuminating insights into Gluck’s place in operatic history. “For a while during the twentieth century, Gluck was almost reduced to being a one-opera composer: the composer of Orfeo. One could even say that he suffered from too much praise as the reformer, the saviour of opera -- integrating the chorus into the action, liberating opera from the da capo aria and from solo virtuosity. But these days solo virtuosity and da capo variations are very much back in fashion, and people have come to realise that, especially in the first half of his mature years, he was also a master of this ‘old-fashioned’ seria style.”

Until now, Curtis’ operatic recordings for Virgin Classics have focused on Handel, with Berenice and Ariodante as the most recent additions to his discography of the composer’s works. Gramophone has said that “Alan Curtis has done more than most to prove that many of Handel's 42 operas are first-rate music dramas”, while the BBC Music Magazine has praised him as “a seasoned Handelian who has contributed, perhaps more than anyone now, to the composer’s operas on disc.” How, though, does Curtis view the relationship between Gluck and the older Handel?

“Gluck no doubt respected Handel,” he says, “though there is no direct evidence that he learned anything from him -- and certainly no example of his stealing any ideas. Unfortunately, the respect was not mutual. It is said that Handel remarked, after Gluck's visit to London, that his cook knew more about counterpoint than Gluck! Coming from the world of Handelian opera, one is first of all struck by the simplicity of much of Gluck's music -- a simplicity which can be mistaken (as it no doubt was by Handel) for a mere lack of complexity or even lack of skill. But Gluck’s music is much more revolutionary than that. It was a way of changing the musical language of the time, and of concentrating on dramatic situations and bare emotions: in short, a way of reforming opera, a process that Gluck and others began long before the appearance of Orfeo in 1762.

“Fortunately for us today, one does not have to choose between these two styles of opera. One can appreciate both. As I work with instrumentalists as singers, not only do we find it refreshing to approach a different style with different criteria, but we sometimes thereby discover new modes of expression. Listen, for instance, to the mezzo soprano Sonia Prina as Ezio, singing ‘Ecco alle mie catene’ near the end of Act II. She is justly famous for her lively, virtuosic Handelian coloratura, but while her Handel can astonish, her Gluck can move you to tears.”

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