Composer: Niccolò Jommelli
Performer: Stuart Jackson, Jennifer France, Gemma Summerfield, Angela Simkin, Tom Verney, Rachel Kelly, The Mozartists
Conductor: Ian Page
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Signum
Catalogue: SIGCD692
Release: 2021
Size: 2.44 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Il Vologeso, Act I
01. Overture
02. Recitativo: “Regina, assai donasti di costanza”
03. No. 2, Aria: “Invan minacci, e credi vincer”
04. Recitativo: “Aniceto… Signore”
05. No. 3, Aria: “Luci belle, più serene, più tranquille”
06. Recitativo accompagnato: “Lunge, inutili pianti”
07. No. 4, Aria: “Se vive il mio bene”
08. Recitativo: “Efeso è questo”
09. No. 5, Aria: “Tutti di speme al core”
10. Recitativo: “Lucio colla sua corte”
11. No. 6, Aria: “Crede sol che a nuovi ardori”
12. Recitativo: “Fan fede, o Berenice”
13. No. 7a, Sinfonia
14. Recitativo accompagnato: “Che miro!”
15. Recitativo: “Flavio, tradita io sono”
16. No. 7, Quartetto: “Quel silenzio… Quel sospiro”
Il Vologeso, Act II
17. Recitativo: “Il tuo cenno è compito”
18. No. 8, Aria: “So ben comprenderti”
19. Recitativo: “Che si chiede da me?”
20. No. 9, Aria: “Sei tra’ ceppi, e insulti ancor?”
21. Il Vologeso, Act II Recitativo Vologeso… Mio ben : Recitativo: “Vologeso… Mio ben”
Il Vologeso, Act II
22. No. 10, Aria: “Cara, deh serbami”
23. Recitativo: “A Cesare n’andrò”
24. Recitativo accompagnato: “Io sì vicino il colpo non credea”
25. No. 11, Aria: “Tu chiedi il mio core”
26. Recitativo: “Seguila; ed il suo core”
27. Recitativo accompagnato: “De’ miei desiri ormai”
28. No. 12, Cavatina: “Che faro?… Privarmi io deggio”
29. Recitativo: “E Aniceto parlò?”
30. Recitativo: “Dunque, Augusto, concedi”
31. Recitativo accompagnato: “Perfido, ah taci”
32. No. 14, Aria: “Partirò, se vuoi così”
33. Recitativo: “Partì… Respiro”
34. Recitativo accompagnato: “Vieni a svellerlo dunque a me dal petto”
35. No. 15, Terzetto: “Se fida m’adora, penando si mora”
Il Vologeso, Act III
36. Recitativo: “Augusta… E ben, Flavio, che rechi?”
37. No. 16, Aria: “Uscir vorrei d’affanno”
38. No. 17a, Recitativo accompagnato: “Udiste, affetti miei?”
39. Recitativo: “Vologeso, che pensi?”
40. Recitativo: “Signor, come imponesti Berenice verrà”
41. Recitativo accompagnato: “Berenice, ove sei?”
42. No. 19, Aria: “Ombra, che pallida”
43. Recitativo: “Troppo il dolor l’affanna”
44. Marcia e recitativo accompagnato: “Ma che ascolto!”
45. No. 20, Arioso: “Su quel caro volto esangue”
46. No. 21, Sinfonia e recitativo: “Mira i doni quai sono”
47. No. 22 Finale: ”Al mare invitano”
The Mozartists continue their MOZART 250 project of staging operas by Mozart and his contemporaries with their recording of the UK premiére of Niccolò Jommelli’s Il Vologeso, first performed over 250 years ago on 11 February 1766 for the Stuttgart court in Ludwigsburg. For this eagerly awaited performance The Mozartists assembled a superb young cast, headed by the Irish mezzo-soprano Rachel Kelly, a graduate of the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, tenor Stuart Jackson, a former Mozartists Associate Artist, and soprano Gemma Lois Summerfield, winner of the 2015 Kathleen Ferrier Award.
Jommelli was born just north of Naples in 1714 (the same year as Gluck) and died there in 1774. Largely forgotten now, he was one of the most celebrated composers of his day, and during a career which spanned thirty-seven years he wrote some eighty operas as well as a great number of sacred works. He was seen as an important and progressive composer in combining the vocal melodiousness and lyricism of Italian opera with more elaborate and dramatically charged elements of French opera.
Set in Ephesus, on the western extremes of the Parthian Empire, in c.164 AD, Il Vologeso centres on Berenice, a woman who becomes caught between two men – the victorious Roman general Lucio Vero, and Vologeso, King of the Parthians (thought dead, but recently returned after his defeat battle).
The Mozartists, under the dynamic leadership of conductor and artistic director Ian Page, are leading exponents of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries. Originally called Classical Opera, the company was founded in 1997, and has received widespread international acclaim for its stylish and virtuosic period-instrument orchestra, its imaginative and innovative programming, and its ability to nurture and develop world-class young artists.