Teresa Berganza 18th Century Portraits

To complement a 2CD set of Rossini and Spanish song entitled ‘Brava Berganza’ (4826397), Eloquence has also reissued more buried treasure from the Decca discography of Teresa Berganza. The compilation takes its title from a 1961 album made, like the Rossini arias on ‘Brava Berganza’, with Sir Alexander Gibson conducting the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where the mezzo-soprano had made a sensational debut the previous year as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. These portraits are of both heroines and trouser-role heroes, including Gluck’s Orfeo and Cherubini’s Medea, as well as arias from an earlier generation by Pergolesi and Handel. In all of them may be appreciated her captivating stage presence and a wide-eyed, coltish eagerness of characterisation. Back in London’s Kingsway Hall in 1962, she set down seven Mozart arias with the supple accompaniment of John Pritchard, and graced with sensitive obbligato contributions from Gervase de Peyer (in ‘Parto, parto’ from La clemenza di Tito) and Geoffrey Parsons in the concert-aria Ch’io mi scordi di te. She encompasses with equal success the impetuous ardour of the priapic page in Figaro and the contrasting sisters in Così fan tutte. Almost twenty years later Berganza recorded more concert arias with undimmed eloquence, intensity and impeccable Mozartian style. The collection is completed by Haydn’s tragic cantata Arianna a Naxos, partnered at the piano in 1977 by her husband and long-standing accompanist Fél

Tracks

1~1~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Le Nozze Di Figaro, Kv 492: Non So Più Cosa Son, Cosa Faccio
1~2~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Le Nozze Di Figaro, Kv 492: Voi Che Sapete
1~3~La Clemenza Di Tito, Kv 621 - Parto, Ma Tu Ben Mio
1~4~Così Fan Tutte, Kv 588 - Temerari! Sortite!... Come Scoglio!
1~5~Così Fan Tutte, Kv 588 - E Amore Un Ladroncello
1~6~Così Fan Tutte, Kv 588 - Ei Parte... Per Pietà
1~7~Chio Mi Scordi Di Te, Kv 505
1~8~Ombra Felice... Io Te Lascio, Kv 255
1~9~Misero Me... Misero Pargoletto, Kv 77
1~10~Giunse Alfin Il Momento... Al Desio, Di Chi Tadora, Kv 577
1~11~Se Ardire, E Speranza, Kv 82
1~12~Conservatevi Fedele, Kv 23
2~1~Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orfeo Ed Euridice: Che Farò Senza Euridice?
2~2~Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orfeo Ed Euridice: Che Puro Ciel, Che Chiaro Sol
2~3~Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orfeo Ed Euridice: Alceste: Divinités Du Styx
2~4~Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orfeo Ed Euridice: Paride Ed Elena: O Del Mio Dolce Ardor
2~5~Giovanni Battista Pergolesi - La Serva Padrona: Stizzoso, Mio Stizzoso
2~6~George Frideric Handel - Giulio Cesare: Piangerò La Sorte Mia
2~7~Giovanni Paisiello - Nina, O Sia La Pazza Per Amore: Il Mio Ben Quando Verrà
2~8~Luigi Cherubini - Medea: Medea! O Medea!... Solo Un Pianto
2~9~Franz Joseph Haydn - Arianna A Naxos Cantata, Hob.Xxvib:2

Details

Format: CD
Artist: Teresa Berganza
Release Date: 16 March 2018
Genre: Classical Music
Label: ELOQUENCE / DECCA
Distributor: Universal Music