Farinelli: Il Quaderno dell'Imperatrice (Arie per soprano di Farinelli dedicate a Maria Teresa d'Austria)

Chronique

Farinelli, the name by which the great eighteenth century castrato Carlo Broschi was known, was also an accomplished instrumentalist, and he wrote a handful of compositions, including this 1753 set of arias dedicated to Maria Teresa of Austria. The formulaic arias are pedestrian in their musical interest, but they are intriguing as a testimony to Farinelli's range and virtuosity; they make nearly superhuman demands on the voice. Unfortunately, the soloist here, male soprano Angelo Manzotti, is far from being up to presenting credible performances of the arias. He does have the upper register required and the ability to stay on pitch, but in virtually every other way his singing is disappointing. Some of the arias go quite low, and the break between head voice and chest voice is so pronounced that it's unintentionally comic, particularly in the passages that rapidly leap back and forth between the heights and depths. The quality of his voice is thin and hooty, almost as a caricature of the popular stereotype of the countertenor. In the passages that require higher volume, his sound is forced and genuinely ugly. The deficiencies in his technique also show up in the melismatic passages, where his vowels are all over the place. Since the arias have so little inherent musical interest, and the quality of the performance is so low, there is little to recommend this CD. Listeners curious about the vocal acrobatics and interpretive passion for which Farinelli was known would do better to check out the album Arias for Farinelli, in which soprano Vivica Genaux gives a dazzling demonstration of how music written for the celebrated castrato can be performed.
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