Search - Alessandro Scarlatti, Roberta Invernizzi, Veronique Gens :: Scarlatti: La Santissima Trinità

A super-star cast treats us to one of Alessandro Scarlatti's

Baroque and opera freak | Hong Kong | 06/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Would anybody believe that in 2004 Biondi managed to pull together the likes of Roberta Invernizzi, Veronica Gens, Vivica Genaux, Paul Agnew, and just one who is not one of the most famous Baroque singers in the world, Roberto Abbondanza, for this recording of a previously obscure Scarlatti work? Perhaps at the time this crew did not have quite the fame they have now, but they were all well established. So the fact that they agreed to get together for this recording shows not only their respect for Biondi - perhaps the best Baroque violinist in Italy today - but also their interest in the work. This is one of those allegorical works that was so popular in Counter-Reformation Italy, when the rich clergy were determined to win back the world to the true Christian faith -- or at least assuage the doubts of the Catholics who had been shaken by the cogency and valid Biblical foundations of the Protestant critique (though the Catholics always held the lead in opulence, aesthetics, and religious sensuality). So this allegory is a theological treatise in which we find arguments between Faithlessness and Faith, Divine love and Time, and our sweet but slightly ageing professor, Dr. Theology. A topic guaranteed to put even the most devout Christian to sleep. Unless of course it is put to the most exquisite music that can be written. Scarlatti was a great composer, and who really cares what the words say anyway, especially when they're in Italian? Actually, the beauty of the language is a major part of the intoxicating appeal of this work, but it is actually a liberation to be able to do without following the libretto. As is well known, Alessandro Scarlatti was Handel's greatest inspiration among the many Italian composers who inspired him during his stay in Italy between 1706 and 1710, and many think that Handel even surpassed Scarlatti's quality in the kind of compositions in which the latter excelled. This work sounds pretty similar to Handel's cantatas written while he was in Italy, not to mention its similarity to Handelian operas. The playing and the singing on this recording are second to none, and the whole thing is masterminded by Fabio Biondi and his divine Baroque violin (not to mention his musicians). For Baroque music lovers it's a must. At first I thought it was not quite up to the level of the absolute best works of Scarlatti himself, and of course his brilliant pupil Handel, but when one listens on and the soloists really let themselves go, this gets up to the very top rank of Baroque period-instrument recordings, full of vigour and sensuality in spite of the subject matter. I originally said that over the present recording I would choose Scarlatti's "Sedicia, re di Gerusalemme," as recorded by Gerard Lesne with Philippe Jaroussky in one of his early recordings, and of course the omnipresent Paul Agnew, with Peter Harvey as Nabucco, but now I say that both are equally great. That was because I started to realize how really great the performances by Gens and Invernizzi are, particularly their incredible duets on tracks 28 and 37 and the short duet by Invernizzi and Agnew on track 29. And then there is Genaux's ethereal aria with the viola da gamba on track 39. You can just forget about the theology lesson. Or you can figure it out if you have the time; undoubtedly the message is worth hearing - at least once, anyway. As for the CD, well, it's worth a hundred hearings. Right now I'm only on number fifteen or so - many more to go."