Bach, J C: Ebben si vada...lo ti lascio: Ebben si vada

Philippe Jaroussky, described by Germany’s Die Zeit as “the Apollo of countertenors’, stands out among his many talented contemporaries as much for the soprano-like beauty of his tone as for the elegance and insight of his interpretations and his adventurous and erudite approach to repertoire – whether unearthing neglected scores by little-known composers or venturing beyond the Baroque into the 19th and 20th centuries.

Established as one of Virgin Classics’ bestselling artists, Jaroussky, now aged 34, has been honoured three times in the Victoires de la Musique awards in his native France and has also received Germany’s most prominent music prize, the Echo Klassik. His diverse achievements are saluted in two new collections on Virgin Classics – the 2CD set “The Voice” and the DVD and Blu Ray “La Voix des rêves: Greatest moments in Concert”.

“THE VOICE” 2 CD Best of Philippe Jaroussky comprises 31 tracks chosen by the singer himself and six previously unreleased tracks of music by Handel and Purcell. Vivaldi takes pride of place on the album, but other composers include Caldara, Porpora and JC Bach and, from later eras, Fauré, Reynaldo Hahn and even Argentina’s King of Tango, Ástor Piazzolla.

In this double album, the greatest vocal artists of the present day offer their own vision of the singing of their legendary predecessors.

The extraordinary adulation accorded to castrati during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is still today one of the most fascinating phenomena in the history of music. During this golden age of the castrato, these male singers endowed with high voices that combined incredible refinement, amazing power and superhuman virtuosity took the musical world by storm. The whole of Europe was overcome by infatuation for these vocal prodigies. In the absence of the castrati themselves, the singers of today face the formidable challenge of reviving their repertoire. Both male and female singers now undertake the task of bringing back to life the wondrous voices of their androgynous forebears, in music that is by turns unsettling, deeply moving and of a dizzying virtuosity.

A 2CD-Compilation for the Price of 1 + 1 Bonus DVD - Digipack Format

In his seventh solo disc for Virgin Classics, Philippe Jaroussky explores the rarely performed operas of Johann Christian Bach, known as ‘the London Bach’.

“Jaroussky soars as effortlessly as a bird, with no sense of strain: perhaps this is how the great castrati of the 18th century sounded.” Gramophone

“The countertenor Philippe Jaroussky wields his sweet-toned, radiant voice to emotive effect, displaying both a rapid-fire coloratura technique and a poignant, lyrical expressiveness.” New York Times

Philippe Jaroussky’s last operatic recital for Virgin Classics collected arias written for a castrato singer, Carestini, whose star had been somewhat eclipsed by his contemporaries Farinelli and Senesino. With this recital, the French countertenor, with his voice of “startling beauty” (Classic FM) turns to a composer who – despite his famous surname, his celebrity in his lifetime, and his influence on the young Mozart – is still not given his full due: Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782). This new recital brings together arias from six of his operas, written for Milan, Mannheim and London, the city in which he spent the last 20 years of his life and where, in 1764, he met the Mozart, then a touring child prodigy.

“I like taking on the role of an interpreter who brings forgotten musicians the attention they deserve,” says Jaroussky, whose last Virgin Classics release, Opium featured some French rarities from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. “It was time to bring J.C. Bach out of Mozart’s shadow … He was a fan of Mozart’s, but his own worth should be recognised. His music is very intelligently written. It shows off the wind instruments, he was a master of ornamentation and there is a dialogue between voice and orchestra, although the tessitura of the vocal writing presents a real challenge, often ranging across two octaves.” Jaroussky’s art thrives on virtuoso demands of this kind; as The Times said: “What Jaroussky does with a formidable counter-tenor range is to make the words dance in fleet-footed rhythms – and to tell a story as though it were headline news.” The singer himself has researched this rarely performed music, returning to the original scores: “It’s like searching for hidden treasure,” he says.

The name of one of the operas is familiar, Orfeo ed Euridice, but the aria recorded here was written by Bach for insertion into Act 1 of Gluck’s most famous work.

Jaroussky’s partners on this disc are Le Cercle de L’Harmonie and Jérémie Rhorer, who played such an important role in soprano Diana Damrau’s Virgin Classics recitals Arie di bravura and Mozart: Donna. For Jaroussky’s tour of this J.C. Bach programme, scheduled for Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Katowice (Poland) in November 2009, and Istanbul and London in December, they will be replaced by the equally distinguished and dynamic – and conductorless – Concerto Köln.

For the first time complete on CD: substantial, large-scale concert arias, in which a solo instrument plays a counterpart against the voice, a kind of Sinfonia Concertante with an instrument and voice as soloists.

Mozart had great respect for the Johann Christian Bach (the youngest son of J.S.) and even in his youth copies and arranged works of him.The influence therefore is obvious.

Beautiful period-instrument performance by the Solamente Naturali, Didier Talpain, who already made more and highly acclaimed recordings for Brilliant: Hummel: Mathilde and C.P.E. Bach Hamburg Symphonies.

The origin of the dialogue between a solo voice and several obbligati instruments dates from the early baroque period (1600), and probably emerged from the hum drum setting of the market square where a singer would perform to the accompaniment of a few wind instruments. More refined relations of this musical form soon could be found in sacred and operatic works. This CD contains the complete obbligato arias by master and pupil – J.C Bach and Mozart.Therefore we can hear examples of the pre classical (1750-75) and the classical period (1775-1820). There is one undisputed masterpiece here - Mozart’s Ch’io mi scordi di te? K505 for soprano and piano.The aria is an expression of personal sadness. Nancy Storace, the first Susanna in Figaro, had left Mozart and returned to London. This is no operatic love affair gone wrong, but a real life one. Mozart himself is represented by the piano, Nancy by the stunning soprano role.

Mozart’s friend and teacher J.C. Bach has a world premiere recording on this CD. His aria Sventura in van mi lagno of 1773 is an impressive virtuoso work for high soprano with two obbligato horns. One the players J.C Bach wrote for was none other than Giovanni Punto, hence the extremely challenging nature of the horn part for a natural horn.