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Fabio Biondi: Europa Galante - Vivaldi: Ercole sul Termodonte
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Artist...............: Fabio Biondi: Europa Galante
Album................: Vivaldi: Ercole sul Termodonte
Genre................: General Classical
Source...............: CD
Year.................: 2011
Ripper...............: EAC (Secure mode) / LAME 3.92 & Asus CD-S520
Codec................: MP3
Quality..............: V2
Channels.............: Stereo / 44100 HZ / 16 Bit
Tags.................: VorbisComment
  
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/antonio-vivaldi-ercole-sul-termodonte-rolando-villaz-n/21006216

Covers...............: CD 
Playing Time.........: 02:23:42

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All Music Guide - Stephen Eddins
There is no complete surviving score for Vivaldi's "Ercole su'l Termodonte," but 
there is enough existing material that modern scholars have been able to 
reconstruct it primarily by making new settings of the lost recitatives. The 
first production of the opera since Vivaldi's time was at Spoleto in 2006 in a 
version by Alessandro Ciccolini, which was released as a DVD. Conductor 
Fabio Biondi made a version introduced in Venice in 2007, which is recorded 
on this 2010 Virgin CD. Biondi's recording has the advantage of two 
international superstars in the leading roles, tenor Rolando Villazón and 
mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and soprano Diana Damrau is nearly in their 
league. Villazón's earthy voice is usually associated with 19th century and 
verismo Italian repertoire, but he has an acute sensitivity to Baroque vocal 
style, and his robust, almost baritonal tenor is entirely appropriate for a 
larger-than-life character like Hercules. DiDonato excels as Hippolyta, Queen 
of the Amazons, singing with her characteristic brilliance and warm humanity. 
The rest of the cast consists mostly of singers who are superstars or near-
superstars in the more circumscribed world of Baroque opera: soprano 
Patrizia Ciofi, mezzo-sopranos Vivica Genaux and Romina Basso (who sounds 
like a genuine contralto), counter tenor Philippe Jaroussky, and tenor Topi 
Lehtipuu. The vocal standards are predictably high; the singers are in 
absolute control of Vivaldi's extreme demands and they have the ease with 
the repertoire to make it sound spontaneous and effortless. These are all 
performers with exceptionally lovely voices -- pure, velvety, colorful, and 
supple -- so the recording should be a pleasure for any fans of vocal music. 
The singers are also superb actors, and the eight leads create distinctly 
differentiated characters. Biondi leads Europa Galante in a performance of 
exquisite precision and refinement (although the natural horns used in some 
arias add an appropriately rough-hewn quality to the warriors' music), and 
the continuo parts are especially beautifully realized. The sound is clean, 
detailed, and spacious, with excellent balance.

Product Details
Release Date: 2/15/2011
EAN: 5099969454509
Label: Virgin Classics
Catalog Number: 94545
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