As the leading figure in Viennese operatic life for some three decades, and successful too in Venice and Paris, Antonio Salieri occupies no inconsiderable position in operatic history. This is a well-chosen selection of music from his Italian operas, in serious, comic and mixed genres.
The purely comic pieces are perhaps the least interesting: his conception of comedy is, in the Italian tradition, quite literal and direct. But among the lighter items are a delightfully spirited little 'rustic' piece from La finta scema and a charming minuet from La grotta di Trofonio, very sharply and neatly characterised here.
That piece was written for Nancy Storace, the English soprano who created Mozart's Susanna.
So is the beautiful slow aria from La scuola de'gelosi, preceded by a recitative sung with much feeling by Bartoli; the aria itself is a lament for lost love, deeply felt and affecting. So, too, is the rondo from La cifra, written for another Mozart singer, Adriana Ferrarese, the first Fiordiligi, again preceded by a forceful recitative, which is reminiscent of Mozart's 'Per pietà', written for Ferrarese shortly after, and which it surely influenced.
This is a noble and powerful piece.
Others that demand to be mentioned here include a couple with spectacular orchestral writing: one from La fiera di Venezia with solo parts for flute and oboe, a real virtuoso piece, with lots of top Ds, and another from La secchiarapita with its dialogues with oboe and its arresting trumpet interventions.
Bartoli is an enormously accomplished artist: every note plumb in the middle, the words always carefully placed, naturally musical phrasing, and beauty and variety of tone. Musicianly and finely modulated playing from the OAE set off the voice perfectly.