Stradella: San Giovanni Battista
Anke Herrmann, Martin Oro, Antonio Abete, Fredrik Akselberg & Elena Cecchi Fedi
Academia Montis Regalis, Alessandro De Marchi
Stradella's San Giovanni Battista, composed for the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome in 1675, is an oratorio that verges on opera. As well as the familiar characters of John the...
Stradella: San Giovanni Battista
Anke Herrmann, Martin Oro, Antonio Abete, Fredrik Akselberg & Elena Cecchi Fedi
Academia Montis Regalis, Alessandro De Marchi
Purchase product
Stradella's San Giovanni Battista, composed for the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome in 1675, is an oratorio that verges on opera. As well as the familiar characters of John the...
About
The oratorio San Giovanni Battista was written for performance on Palm Sunday in the Holy Year of 1675 where some fourteen oratorios were commissioned by the confraternity of the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome – an auspicious event. San Giovanni Battista is a deeply ‘Baroque’ score, vibrant, rhythmically insistent, requiring singers to perform phrases of difficult fiorituras or deeply moving legato lines. The libretto is dramatic and emotionally vivid, and the music is closely tied to the text, creating a distinctly operatic atmosphere—described by the disc’s conductor Alessandro De Marchi as ‘a true Salome’.
Contents and tracklist
- Martin Oro (countertenor), Fredrik Akselberg (tenor)
- Academia Montis Regalis
- Alessandro De Marchi
Prima Parte No 03. Recitative – Coro – Recitative. Selve beate – Dove, Battista? – Alla corte (San Giovanni / Coro di Discepoli)
Track length1:25
- Elena Cecchi Fedi (soprano), Fredrik Akselberg (tenor), Anke Herrmann (soprano), Antonio Abete (bass), Martin Oro (countertenor)
- Academia Montis Regalis
- Alessandro De Marchi
Prima Parte No 08. Recitative – Aria. Sì, sì dei tuoi divoti – Anco in Cielo (Herodiade / Consigliere)
Track length1:45
Prima Parte No 11. Recitative – Trio – Recitative. Non più cedo – Non fia ver – Non più ferma (All)
Track length5:40
- Fredrik Akselberg (tenor), Antonio Abete (bass), Anke Herrmann (soprano), Martin Oro (countertenor), Elena Cecchi Fedi (soprano)
- Academia Montis Regalis
- Alessandro De Marchi
Seconda Parte No 03. Recitative. O di questi occhi miei (Herode / Salome / San Giovanni)
Track length2:05
Seconda Parte No 05. Recitative. Figlia, se un gran tesoro (Herodiade / Salome / Herode)
Track length3:50
Seconda Parte No 09. Recitative – Aria. In questa dei miei affetti – Provi pur le mie vendette (Herode)
Track length2:53
- Antonio Abete (bass), Anke Herrmann (soprano)
- Academia Montis Regalis
- Alessandro De Marchi
Awards and reviews
2010
Stradella's San Giovanni Battista, composed for the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome in 1675, is an oratorio that verges on opera. As well as the familiar characters of John the Baptist, Salome, Herod and Herodias, there is an unnamed Counsellor: combined, they form a five-part chorus. The rich string accompaniment is made up of a concertino and a concertogrosso, which play both separately and together.
Alessandro de Marchi makes the most of these forces by inserting short instrumental pieces by two contemporary composers at appropriate points in the story.
The music is delightfully varied, and the performers do it full justice. Martín Oro makes a rich-toned John the Baptist. The action begins with John bidding farewell to pastoral delights with a continuo aria; then, as he leaves to make a nuisance of himself at Herod's court, he embarks on a nautical metaphor aria – winds, sea, billows – with roulades that Oro dispatches with virtuoso precision.
In many of the arias, the instruments accompany the voice rather than simply providing a ritornello. When Herod condemns John to prison, the concerto grosso plays in the first section, the concertino in the second. Antonio Abete rages impressively, his solid bass showing an admirable fleetness. Anke Herrmann's Salome is seductive and wheedling by turns. This is an excellent disc.
February 2008
The music is delightfully varied, and the performers do it full justice.
When you learn that Handel owned an early copy of the manuscript all the pieces begin to fall into place; here is a perfect example of the Italian manner that was to influence him so fundamentally … each soloist is given masses of opportunity to display their bravura technique, both as individuals and jointly, when they comment on the action in some lovely choruses and madrigals … De Marchi really scores in his choice of soloists. Salome is sung by the exquisite soprano Anke Herman, Battista by the firm-voiced countertenor Martin Oro and the court counsellor by the excellent tenor Fredrik Akselberg, but the star of the disc is the bass Antonio Abete who as Herod thunders through some truly stunning arias.
