Search
Special Offers
Awards
Online Payment
Visit us
Presto News - 26th October 2009Cecilia Bartoli and the world of Castratos |
 Cecilia Bartoli’s latest project uncovers the extraordinary and shocking history of castratos. The result of castration before puberty was that the boy’s larynx didn’t transform like normal, so his voice remained high into adulthood. Furthermore as his body continued to grow the lack of testosterone meant that bone-joints didn’t harden like normal, and so his limbs and crucially his ribs would often grow longer then normal. Long ribs meant large lungs, and this gave castratos unrivalled breath-control and lung-power compared to other singers.  Cecilia Bartoli Composers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries wrote a lot of music for castrato voices, particularly in opera where some of the most famous and challenging arias known today were originally written for castratos (an obvious example being Handel’s ‘Ombra mai fù’ from his opera Serse (Xerxes)). Indeed, several of Handel’s operas featured castrato heroes, such as Giulio Cesare (1724), Tamerlano (1724), and Rodelinda (1725), and even as late as 1781 Mozart originally wrote the role of Idamante in Idomeneo for castrato (although he replaced him with a tenor in the revised 1786 version). The history of castratos is both interesting and shocking, and at its peak in the 1720s and 1730s it has been estimated that about 4,000 boys were ‘sacrificed’ each year. Of course one or two went on to huge careers, earning enormous fees and public adulation, but the vast majority either died during the process or were subject to lives as social outcasts. By the end of eighteenth century changes in operatic taste and social attitude spelt the end for castratos as it was by then seen as repulsive and inhumane. As a result today we don’t really know what the greats like Farinelli, Cafarelli or Senesino actually sounded like, and these days their parts are either taken by female voices or by countertenors. Cecilia Bartoli’s new album, mentioned briefly at the outset, focuses on the Neapolitan school (which produced amongst others the superstar castratos Farinelli and Caffarelli). The repertoire is mainly world premiere recordings, but full of elaborate coloratura showpieces, it suits Bartoli’s voice perfectly. It is accompanied (while initial pressings last) by a lavishly illustrated 108 page hardback book including profiles of the leading castrati and the composers who wrote for them, as well as insights into the musical, physical, medical and social aspects of “the age of the castrati”. It is an insightful and fascinating project and I’ve put a short video introducing the album up on the website for you to watch. Enjoy!
|
Share
|
 Cecilia Bartoli - Sacrificium (Standard Version)Cecilia Bartoli, Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
Watch a short introductory videoNew Releases26th October 2009 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Bach Cantatas Volume 13The Monteverdi Choir & The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot GardinerThe illustrious, multi-award winning Bach Cantatas series on SDG continues with volume 13 in the series. It features Cantatas for the first and fourth Sunday in Advent and was recorded live in December 2000. We join John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists on their Bach Cantata pilgrimage for a concert of Bach’s Advent cantatas, performed in the largest of the Romanesque churches in Cologne, St. Maria im Kapitol (St. Mary in the Capital). |
 Schumann - String Quartet & Piano QuintetTakács Quartet, Marc-André Hamelin (piano)The peerless Takács Quartet, recently nominated for a Gramophone award for their second disc of Brahms’s string quartets, continue their fêted exploration of the Romantic chamber music tradition with this disc of Schumann. The Takács Quartet are joined by Marc-André Hamelin in an invigorating partnership that has already been widely acclaimed on the concert platform. |
 The Romantic Piano Concerto 49 – StenhammarSeta Tanyel (piano), Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Andrew ManzeWelcome to a genuinely outstanding disc in the Romantic Piano Concerto series. Sometimes the works found along the unfrequented byways of the Romantic piano tradition can exhibit no more than surface brilliance, but that cannot be said of these two splendid concertos by Stenhammar, recorded for the first time together on one CD. |
 Beethoven - Complete Works for Piano & CelloZuill Bailey (cello) & Simone Dinnerstein (piano)Having received high praise for their recent releases of ‘Russian Cello Masterpieces’ (Zuill Bailey), and the ‘Berlin Concert’ and ‘Bach’s Goldberg Variations’, (Simone Dinnerstein), these two accomplished musicians re-affirm their long–standing partnership with a new 2CD set of the complete works for cello by Beethoven. Simone Dinnerstein and Zuill Bailey have performed together regularly for more than a decade, and together they received the Classical Recording Foundation Award in 2006 and 2007. Both are known as highly accomplished musicians with a flair for arresting interpretations. |
 Debussy - Complete Works for Solo Piano Volume 5Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano)Jean-Efflam Bavouzet reaches the climax of his multi award-winning complete works for piano, with an album of solo piano transcriptions of three ballets from the same period. |
 Songs by Schubert, Wolf, Faure and RavelSimon Keenlyside (baritone) & Malcolm Martineau (piano)He was already noted as a recitalist, and “a talent to cherish” as far back as 1989. Since appearing in La Scala in 1998 he has performed recitals all over the world, his repertoire including: Schubert, Schumann, Strauss, Brahms, Fauré, Wolf and Mahler. He has also recorded many English songs. Gramophone describe him as the finest baritone singer of Lieder this country has ever produced. |
 Hummel - Fortepiano SonatasSusan Alexander-Max (fortepiano)Susan Alexander-Max performs these rarely recorded sonatas on a Joseph Brodmann fortepiano built in Vienna in 1814. It is the first time they have been recorded on a period instrument. |
 Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (complete)Helena Juntunen (soprano), Katarina Karnéus (mezzo-soprano), Daniel Norman (tenor) & Neal Davies (bass-baritone), Minnesota Orchestra & Minnesota Chorale, Osmo VänskäBIS is pleased to release the boxed set of their critically-acclaimed Beethoven Symphonies Cycle. ‘Vänskä's Beethoven looks set to be a front-runner among the historically unprejudiced cycles now available.’ ‘…a Beethoven reforged for today's world’ Gramophone |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 24th October 2009 |
Building a Library - Stravinsky: Symphony in C |
 First Choice(coupled with Symphony of Psalms and Symphony in 3 movements)Berliner Philharmoniker & Rundfunkchor Berlin, Sir Simon Rattle |
 Budget Choice(coupled with Symphony of Psalms and Symphony in 3 movements)London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Michael Tilson Thomas |
Disc of the Week |
 Beethoven: Complete Works for Violin and OrchestraPatricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Philippe Herreweghe |
Your details will be used only in accordance with our Privacy Policy. |
Copyright © 2002-13 Presto Classical Limited, all rights reserved.