Composer: Sebastián Durón
Performer: Le Poème Harmonique
Conductor: Vincent Dumestre
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Alpha
Catalogue: ALPHA788
Release: 2022
Size: 2.04 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
01. Corrente Italiana
Coronis, Jornada primera
02. No. 1, Al monte, a la selva
03. No. 2, Dioses, piedad
04. No. 3, Con venatorias voces la maleza
05. No. 4, Pero qué horrible son
06. No. 5, Cielos, que airados
07. No. 6, A Donde, fugitivo iman de mis deseos
08. No. 7, Suelta, homicida
09. No. 8, Gran valor de mujer
10. No. 9, No prosigas, si no quieres
11. No. 10, Dioses, Piedad
12. No. 11, Al ver que de mi horror
13. No. 12, Venid monteros, venid zagales
14. No. 13, Que dolor, que pesar
15. No. 14, Que fiero horror
16. No. 15, Ah de misero albergo
17. No. 16, Vuestro llanto humilde pretendare
18. No. 17, Muera el sol
19. No. 18, Al arma rigores
20. No. 19, Qué desdicha
CD 02
Coronis, Jornada segunda
01. No. 1, Passacalle, Jácara
02. No. 2, Al dios de los mares
03. No. 3, Misera Tracia
04. No. 4, Encienda la llama
05. No. 5, Coronis, Jornada segunda infelice
06. No. 6, Llore de Tracia en mi desgracia
07. No. 7, Ni las plantas, ni las fuentes
08. No. 8, Porque vean los que aleves
09. No. 9, Llore y sienta
10. No. 10, No temáis, no lloréis
11. No. 11, Decidme, plantas
12. No. 12, Favor, dioses, Piedad, cielos
13. No. 13, Aunque los dioses, los incendios
14. No. 14, No he de escuchar
15. No. 15, Yo muero, ¿qué es esto?
16. No. 16, De fiera gazapera hemos librado
17. No. 17, Qué simplón, que insolente
18. No. 18, Menandro, ¿sabes qué voy temiendo?
19. No. 19, No, señor, porque Tritón
20. No. 20, Ya, sacros cielos
21. No. 21, Yo en venganza
22. No. 22, Es, espumas, a lidar
23. No. 23, Atented, parad
24. No. 24, Ya, inmortales dioses
25. No. 25, Premie mi amor
26. No. 26, Viendome despreciado
This recording provides an opportunity to discover a forgotten Baroque operatic treasure, a zarzuela, the key dramatic and musical genre of the Spanish Golden Age. Sumptuous choruses, poignant arias and folksongs blend in a rich and spectacular narrative, whose music was falsely attributed to Antonio Literes before Sebastián Durón (1660-1716) was acknowledged as its composer in 2009! Another peculiarity of the work is that it is sung by seven sopranos, who are even given the roles of Apollo, Neptune and the monster Triton. Only the part of an old man, the seer Proteus, is assigned to a tenor. Ana Quintans in the title role, Isabelle Druet, Anthea Pichanick, Caroline Meng and Cyril Auvity are among the cast of this colourful zarzuela, whose modern stage premiere in 2019 enjoyed great success.
Well here is something well outside of the run of the mill Baroque operatic repertoire. A rare recording of a major work written ca. 1705 for the Spanish court by master of the chapel royal, Sebastián Durón (1660-1716), for which he took the zarzuela – a popular musical theatre form combining song and spoken declamation that was unique to Hapsburg Spain – and ambitiously used it to create an all-sung operatic version that, while drawing on Italian conventions, was entirely its own thing in architectural and stylistic terms. So, plot-wise, think serious passages juxtaposed with more entertaining ones, and characters drawn from both the lowest and highest ranks of society; then played out with the classical precepts of time completely disobeyed, allowing for the work’s action to flit about between different times and places; musical structure not so much based around the distinction between aria and recitative, but instead built around variety and contrasting juxtapositions, with short arias inserted into dialogues, and fewer long arias; and most distinctive of all, a female-dominated cast in which actresses even sing most male roles – because in Spain it was women alone who trained to sing in theatre troupes, which were looked down upon by royal chapel cantors.
As for what the storyline of Coronis is, it’s a mythological pastorale, possibly allegorising the hoped-for victory of the Bourbons over the English, Dutch and Portuguese fleets, in which the beautiful nymph Coronis first narrowly escapes abduction by Triton the sea monster, but then eventually gets captured by him as she flees a ruinous conflict that erupts between Apollo and Neptune, who themselves are fighting over the land of Thrace, one setting it ablaze and the other flooding it. But then Apollo comes to Coronis’s aid and kills Triton. So the two new lovers, one nymph and one god, are anointed king and queen by Jupiter.
That’s a lot of explanation. However, if you’re still with me, the good news is that the critical analysis of all the above is a good deal simpler. Durón’s actual score adds up to a colourful explosion of sound that’s as much an evocation of seventeenth century street music as it is court music, thanks to its use of harps, guitars and percussion (and of course the rough and tumble action itself). Then, it’s hard to imagine how it could have been brought more zingingly to life than it has been here by Vincent Dumestre, Le Poème Harmonique and his tip-top cast – and right from the get-go, via the blend of processional grandeur and lilting dance rhythms of the opening Corrente Italiana (actually the work of Juan Cabanilles 1644-1712, although the Passacalle by Durón that kicks off the Second Day’s action is perhaps even more dramatically weighted, with its sombre slow opening which eventually gives way to a high-octane exotic dance led by guitars and castanets). Onwards, and if you want a taster of how effortlessly both orchestra and singers glide and shimmy through the score’s swiftly chopping and changing metres, scoring and styles, via wall-to-wall strong vocal performances and a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of solo and ensemble instrumental colour, then head to ”Ah del mísero Albergo” followed by “Vuestro llanto humilde pretenda regar” sung with vim by Ana Quintans as Coronis and Cyril Auvity as Proteo and the chorus.