Porpora: Cantatas: Nos 7-12 of 12 Cantatas to his Royal Highness Frederick Prince of Wales (London, 1735)

Davies hovers delicately between passion and languor, enactment and commentary. Hesitation, silence, and nuanced additions figure prominently in a performance that is both engaging and soothing...The... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2011, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 26th Sep 2011
Catalogue No: CDA67894
Label: Hyperion
Length: 77 minutes

Porpora: Or che una nube ingrata

Work length14:02

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Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen

Movement 1: Adagio – Recitativo. Or che una nube ingrata – Quando in quel fior

Track length2:33

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II. Senza il misero piacer

Track length5:43

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III. M'intendi? Io tutto dissi: ahi qual tormento!

Track length1:41

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IV. Contemplar almen chi l'ama

Track length4:05

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Porpora: Oh se fosse il mio core

Work length10:33

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Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen

Movement 1. Recitativo. Oh se fosse il mio core

Track length1:01

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II. Se lusinga il labro e 'l ciglio

Track length5:32

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III. Mi fa barbara e ingrata

Track length0:40

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IV. Sento pietade

Track length3:20

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Porpora: Destatevi, o pastori

Work length16:46

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Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen

Movement 1. Recitativo. Destatevi, o pastori, ecco il mattino

Track length2:33

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II. Nei campi e nelle selve

Track length6:50

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III. Tornerò fra le gregge

Track length1:35

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IV. Silvio amante disperato

Track length5:48

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Porpora: Oh Dio, che non è vero

Work length13:18

$4.00

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Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen

Movement 1. Recitativo. Oh Dio, che non è vero

Track length0:44

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II. Quella ferita

Track length6:36

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III. Passano i fiumi e i rivi

Track length0:59

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IV. Se mi prestasse i vanni

Track length4:59

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Porpora: Veggo la selva e il monte

Work length10:17

$4.00

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Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen

Movement 1. Recitativo. Veggo la selva e il monte

Track length0:47

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II. Le direi, mormorando tra' sassi

Track length4:48

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III. Poscia, quando il pastor guida la greggia

Track length0:39

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IV. Ma la selva, il monte intanto

Track length4:03

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Porpora: Dal povero mio cor

Work length12:54

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Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen

Movement 1. Recitativo. Dal povero mio cor che vuoi, speranza?

Track length1:22

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II. Menzognera dici: 'Spera'

Track length4:37

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III. Pallido, ancor tremante

Track length1:57

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IV. Ha scogli e rie procelle

Track length4:58

$1.00

$1.25

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Young countertenor Iestyn Davies makes his much anticipated Hyperion solo debut with an enchanting disc of cantatas from the Italian composer Nicola Porpora. Davies’s luminous tone has a celestial purity and he performs with prodigious technical assurance. Unfazed by the composer’s intricate passagework and elaborate ornamentation, his astonishing breath control creates a seamless melodic line. Davies is accompanied by the ensemble Arcangelo in interpretations that go far beyond historical understanding.

In a productive career that spanned 70 years, Porpora wrote some 135 secular canatas, twelve of which were dedicated to His Royal Highness Frederick Prince of Wales, a great patron of the arts and an amateur musician. Porpora’s ability to set the Italian language to music was widely acknowledged during his lifetime and his music is full of imaginative word painting. Davies’s remarkable skill in characterization, and his innate ability to go straight to the heart of both text and music, make this the perfect affiliation.

Reviews

December 2011

Davies hovers delicately between passion and languor, enactment and commentary. Hesitation, silence, and nuanced additions figure prominently in a performance that is both engaging and soothing...The recitative is notably captivating, thanks largely to the obbligato players' response to words, and to director and cellist Jonathan Cohen's fine-brush dynamics. Technically immaculate and thoroughly researched

November 2011

Cohen and his new ensemble Arcangelo favour a larger and more diverse team of continuo players; the restuls are simultaneously luxurious and imaginative, and risk gliding the lily, but the musicianship is exquisite. Cohen's cello-playing is softly lyrical during the beautiful Or che una nube ingrata and Davies's coloratura shines in the lively outburst that concludes 'Oh se fosse il mio core'

3rd November 2011

[Porpora's] music was much admired during his lifetime, and as Davies's beautifully shaped and coloured singing shows, it has a great deal of elegance and charm, if not much profundity, despite its emotional highs and lows. The performances certainly give it the best possible chance; the players of Arcangelo are alive to every nuance of the recitatives and in the arias take the instrumental obbligatos...with great relish.

9th October 2011

Iestyn Davies, today's most exciting British countertenor, sings six of [the cantatas] here with an awesome technique and flawless tone, accompanied by the lithe and graceful chamber ensemble Arcangelo, with the princely Jonathan Cohen directing from the cello. Recommended.

29th September 2011

These six Italian cantatas...are perfectly tailored to the mellifluous, beautifully articulated, expressive countertenor voice of Iestyn Davies, accompanied by apt colouring from the instrumental ensemble Arcangelo.

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Porpora: Cantatas

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