18th Century Operas

For long neglected by recording companies, recent years have seen a considerable increase of interest in 18th century opera. The emergence of a number of highly accomplished specialist singers, led by the new wave of countertenor 'superstars', has encouraged the more adventurous disc companies to fill major gaps in the catalogue. The five sets under consideration here all feature operas receiving either a first recording, or first recording on CD.

Quite rightly, the major beneficiary of this activity has been Handel, unquestionably the greatest dramatist of the first half of the century. We are now not so far from the point where all his operas will have been recorded in at least respectable performances. Rodrigo, hitherto only issued in a private vinyl recording, is the most recent gap to be filled in a splendidly sung and dramatically projected new recording (Virgin Veritas VCD5458972; 2 discs: 79.15, 75.34 - GB pounds 29.99) under the direction of Alan Curtis. Handel's first Italian opera, Rodrigo was first performed in Florence in 1707 under the cumbersome title of Vincer se stesso è la maggior vittorio ('Self-conquest is the greatest victory'). A tale of treachery and revenge set in 8th-century Spain, Rodrigo boasts a strong plot and more concise arias than those found in his later operas. There are no weaknesses in a cast led by the superlative Esilena of Sandrine Piau.

Another outstanding performance in Rodrigo comes from the Italian soprano Roberta Invernizzi, who can also be heard in excellent form in a very different opera. Leonardo Vinci's Li zite n'galera is the first full-length Italian comic opera to have survived complete. First performed in Naples in 1722, this riotous piece of fun has a rapidly moving plot that includes many of the ingredients of later opera buffa - women disguised as men, amorous intrigue and misunderstandings, and so on. Vinci's music, some of it in popular Neapolitan style, is delightful, while every member of the cast revels under the spirited direction of Antonio Florio. This set comes from Opus 111 in their invaluable Treasures of Naples series (OPUS III OPS30-212/213; 2 discs: 55.34, 77.39 - GB pounds 29.00).

The flexibility and greater dramatic veracity of comic operas such as Li zite was ultimately to be a contributing factor in mid-century moves to reform the stilted conventions of serious opera. Two recent issues by one of the major reformers have recently appeared. Gluck's Alceste and Armide both display reform characteristics, although they are less apparent in the rarely-performed and earlier Italian version of Alceste (Naxos 8.660066-68; 3 discs: 49.45, 63.30, 33.40 - GB pounds 14.99), first given in Vienna in 1767. Recorded in the dry acoustic of the famous 18th century opera house at Drottningholm in Sweden, the performance under former director Arnold Östman is reliable and stylish but lacks real dramatic impact. Teresa Ringholz is the rather lightweight Alceste, but she rises convincingly to the dramatic challenge of the great underworld scene in Act II. Worth trying at Naxos' bargain price, but it might be advisable to await John Eliot Gardiner's forthcoming recording of the later (and more satisfactory) Paris version with Anne Sofie van Otter. The recording of Armide (Archiv 459 617-2; 2 discs - GB pounds 29.99), on the other hand, gives no cause for hesitation. Directed by Marc Minkowski with blazing conviction and featuring a thrilling portrayal of the eponymous doomed sorceress by a new star, Mireille Delunsch, this vivid live recording is a major addition to the catalogue.

Finally, a real rarity - and it features the name of Mozart. In 1790, the year before the composition of The Magic Flute, he combined with a group of resident musicians at the suburban Viennese theatre run by Emanuel Schikaneder to stage Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher's Stone), a magic opera based on the same source as The Magic Flute. The discovery of the full score by American musicologist David J.Buch in 1996 made headline news, following which the opera was given its first modern performances in Boston last autumn. The same forces, Boston Baroque under Martin Pearlman, have now made an outstanding recording of the opera (Telarc CD80508; 3 discs - GB pounds 29.99) that includes a bonus disc on which Pearlman illustrates the close relationship between Der Stein and Mozart's final masterpiece. Mozart's contribution is in fact restricted to very few numbers, but the remainder of the music is delightful and those who know The Magic Flute will find many analogies in both plot and music.

Brittens Music Eastbourne