Featuring EIGHT WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS, the new album from German Soprano Simone Kermes further proves how deserving she is of the title “The Queen of Baroque”!
The album, titled ‘Dramma’ features a selection of the most virtuosic opera arias of this time, originally composed for castrati singers such as Farinelli and Caffarelli. The arias require highest dramatic expression and flawless vocal technique. Kermes studied these demanding compositions in extreme detail before embarking on the great challenge of recording them.
Besides the renowned Lascia ch’io pianga from Handel’s Rinaldo, Simone selected thirteen rarities and genuinely newly discovered arias, including several by the composer Nikola Porpora. She is accompanied by the ensemble La Magnifica Comunità.
“Eight of the 12 songs are world premiere recordings of unaccountably beautiful arias...Kermes treats these first airings with due care, exhibiting stately grace and poise on Porpora’s “Alto Giove”, and coping remarkably with the wide range and rapid coloratura passages of material often written for castrati, notably Giuseppe De Majo’s “Per trionfar pugnando”.” The Independent, 18th August 2012
“This collection of castrato arias includes six astonishing discoveries, many recorded for the first time...sung by the beguilingly agile Simone Kermes with delightfully pungent playing from La Magnifica Comunità. Listen through headphones for some glorious detail in the continuo.” The Observer, 26th August 2012
“Kermes's voice is hardly conventionally beautiful...she thrills with her fearless attack and coruscating coloratura...Kermes is never dull. And at her finest...her energy, technical brilliance and imagination silence criticism.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2012
“Some people find her singing mannered; I prefer to think of her as a Schwarzkopf of the Baroque - a singer in whom keen intelligence (demonstrated no less in her scholarly booklet-note), stylistic sophistication and searching imagination achieve extraordinary artistic combination. Throughout, La Magnifica Comunità, the Padua-based period band, supports her magnificently.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 *****
BBC Music Magazine
