Alan Curtis
Equally known for his live performances and musicological work in establishing new performing practices for early opera, Alan Curtis enjoyed a fruitful career. A scholar as well as a conductor and harpsichordist, Curtis edited several important works with an appreciation for authenticity, effective performance, and -- in the case of opera -- stage-worthiness. Several of his best recordings were issued in the 1990s and the new millennium.
Curtis was born on November 17, 1934, in Mason, Michigan. He studied at Michigan State University, attaining a bachelor's degree in 1955. His graduate study at the University of Illinois was interrupted (after the completion of his master's program) by two years of tutelage under Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. Following his work with the master harpsichordist, organist, and conductor, Curtis returned to the University of Illinois to complete his doctorate, awarded in 1963. By this time, he had already published several scholarly texts that had attracted the interest of the growing period-performance movement. His doctoral thesis on Sweelinck quickly became a standard text on that composer's works for keyboard, and later formed the basis for Curtis' more extended volume, published in 1969.
Curtis was hired as a teacher at the University of California at Berkeley in 1960, advancing to full professor by 1970. During that decade, Curtis took advantage of increasing opportunities to put into practice the results of his research; he achieved a reputation as an accomplished harpsichordist and, increasingly, as a conductor of 17th and 18th century opera. A recording of Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea was heralded as an antidote to less-authentic realizations. Equally, it demonstrated just how vital period performance could be when shorn of Romantic-period excesses. While continuing his instructional work and music research in academia, Curtis performed as a conductor and harpsichordist both in America and Europe. In 1979, he founded the Amsterdam-based ensemble Il Complesso Barocco, performing and recording many operas with the group. A 1980 La Scala debut conducting Handel's Ariodante led to other significant engagements in Italy. In 1984, Curtis conducted Gluck's Armida (not often heard then) in Bologna, and in 1989, he led Cimarosa's even rarer Gli Orazi ed I Curiazi in Rome.
Curtis' recordings with Il Complesso Barocco continued well into the new century. Among these are Handel's Tolomeo (2008), Alcina (2009), and Giulio Cesare (2012). Curtis and his group also collaborated on albums by high-profile performers including Joyce DiDonato's Drama Queens and Max Emanuel Cencic's Fantastic Cencic. Curtis died on July 15, 2015, in Florence, Italy.
© Erik Eriksson /TiVo
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Gluck : Ezio (Intégrale)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Aug 20, 2011
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sesto libro de madrigali (1611)
Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Glossa on Jan 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Händel: Lotario
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on Aug 2, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Fernando, Re Di Castiglia
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 29, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Deidamia
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on May 30, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Händel: Lotario
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on Aug 2, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Il cimbalo cromatico napoletano
Classical - Released by EG Classics on Jan 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
David, azione sacra
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Aug 6, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi, C.: Ritorno D'Ulisse in Patria (Il) [Opera]
Classical - Released by Nuova Era Internazionale on Jan 31, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Couperin: Harpsichord Suites
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: The Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Stradivarius on Jan 1, 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sesto libro de madrigali (Carlo Gesualdo)
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Pan Classics on Jan 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel Giove in Argo
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Mar 11, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Salve Regina/Sacred Works By Scarlatti, Leo & Pergolesi
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on Jan 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ziani: Magnificat & L'Assalone punito
Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Stradivarius on Feb 28, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 1
Classical - Released by Stradivarius on Jun 26, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Couperin Harpsichord Music
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Apr 2, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Veracini: Flute Sonatas Nos. 1, 3-5, 11-12
Chamber Music - Released by Dynamic on Jan 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: English & French Suites Nos. 1 & 2
Classical - Released by Warner Classics International on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
More Than I Can Be
Rock - Released by Alan Curtis on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Salve Regina - Sacred Music from Naples
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on Jan 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo