Composer: Attilio Malachia Ariosti, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Johann David Heinichen, Rheinhard Keiser, Johann Helmich Roman, Thomas Augustine Schürmann, Georg Caspar Schürmann, Georg Philipp Telemann
Performer: Tomáš Král
Orchestra: Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra
Conductor: Jarosław Thiel
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Aparté
Catalogue: AP278
Release: 2022
Size: 1.2 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Schürmann TA: Alfred: Overture
02. Handel: Rodelinda, HWV 19: Tirannia gli diede il regno (Garibaldo)
03. Roman: Festa musicale, BeRi 32: Datti pace, alma reale (Federico I di Svezia)
04. Schürmann GC: Ludovicus Pius, oder Ludewig der Fromme: Dich soll der Freiheit Gold bekrönen (Ludovicus Pius)
05. Keiser: Fredegunda: Ich muss schweigend von dir gehen (Sigibert)
06. Handel: Almira, HWV 1: Courante
07. Heinichen: La pace di Kamberga, S. 19: Si teme (Primislao)
08. Ariosti: La fede ne’ tradimenti: Questo mar (Garzia)
09. Handel: Ottone, re di Germania, HWV 15: Concerto
10. Handel: Riccardo Primo, re d’Inghilterra, HWV 23: Dell’empia frode il velo (Berardo)
11. Keiser: Croesus: Gotter, übt Barmherzigkeit! (Croesus)
12. Handel: Almira, HWV 1: Menuet
13. Keiser: Octavia (Die römische Unruhe, oder Die edelmühtige Octavia): Ach! Nero ist nicht Nero mehr!… Erstaune, sichrer Kreis der Welt (Nero)
Telemann: Der neumodische Liebhaber Damon, TWV 21
14. 8: Chaconne comique
15. 8: Ihr krachenden Klüfte (Damon)
16. Telemann: Pastorelle en Musique, TWV deest: Intrada
17. Bach: Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten!, BWV 214: Kron und Preis gekrönter Damen (Fama)
Northern Europe was a fertile ground for lyrical music: it has borrowed many memorable historical figures but is also indebted to it for many masterpieces by Baroque composers. Handel and Bach come to mind, of course, but we would be forgetting the Heinichen, Schürmann, Keiser and Telemann, whose brilliant opera music is so rarely performed. Many of them have portrayed monarchs, terrible or majestic, in their operatic works – roles that, unlike their southern colleagues, the composers of the Septentrion do not hesitate to entrust to lower voices.
The baritone Tomas Kral, who has been performing brilliantly for several years on international stages, takes on these different roles with equal ease, sometimes portraying the torment of a remorseful Nero (“Ach! Nero ist nicht Nero mehr!… Erstaune, sichrer Kreis der Welt” Keiser, Octavia), the despair of Sigebert (“Ich muss schweigend von dir gehen” Keiser, Fredegunda) or the ridiculous fatuity of Telemann’s imaginary tyrant, Damon (“Ihr krachenden Klüfte…”).
Mixing key arias of the repertoire (Rodelinda, Almira, Riccardo Primo…) and little-known treasures, the young baritone and the musicians of the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra offer a high-flying recital, between virtuosity and emotion.