Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)
L’Orfeo (1607)
Orfeo: Marc Mauillon (tenor)
Euridice/La Musica: Luciana Mancini (mezzo-soprano)
Messaggiera: Sara Mingardo (contralto)
Speranza/Proserpina: Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo-soprano)
La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations/Jordi Savall
rec. 2021, l’Opéra Royal de Versailles
Italian libretto with French, English and German translations enclosed
Reviewed as download from press preview
Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS080 [2 CDs: 109]
Jordi Savall, a devout advocate of early music since the 1960s, has made more than 100 recordings and is no newcomer to Monteverdi. He recorded L’Orfeo for his own label Alia Vox in 2015, with two of the singers on this remake, Sara Mingardo as Messaggiera – one of her signature roles; I have an even earlier recording with her – and Furio Zanasi, Apollo on the present recording, who then sang the title role. It is interesting to see that Savall studied with August Wenzinger at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland (1968–70), eventually succeeding him in 1974 as professor of viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He may have learnt a thing or two from Wenzinger about L’Orfeo, since he was the one who made the very first recording of the work in the mid-1950s. I acquired that recording some twenty years after its coming into being, and it was a revelation for me at the time. Since then, so much has changed, musicology has developed, and new recordings have been issued in a never-ceasing stream. Today Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo is probably the most recorded baroque opera but still, after almost seventy years, Wenzinger’s pioneering issue comes up to the mark. Scholars have disputed the pros and cons of the various versions and there is little hope that the experts can reach a full consensus about the definitive yardstick. For the average opera lover, such hair-splitting may be less interesting, but of course there are objective differences.
The size of the orchestra, for instance. Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s legendary first recording from circa 1970 employs ten strings, fifteen wind instruments and a continuo group of ten; Jordi Savall’s demands are more modest: five strings, ten wind and eight continuo. Compare this to Sergio Vertolo’s Naxos recording from 1996 with twenty strings and we have a wide span indeed – and I don’t state that any of these three are ruled out because of the number of players. Besides those I have mentioned, there is also a well-received Archiv issue from the late 1980s under John Eliot Gardiner and the most recent recording I have come across: a Swedish production on BIS under Fredrik Malmberg, issued in May 2021 (review). Having heard them all at one time or other I have sampled them again to refresh my memory, and am happy to say that any of them can be safely recommended to both first-time buyers and those who contemplate a second or third alternative. Operatic masterpieces – and this is one of them – are always worth owning in double or multiple versions.
The playing is excellent in all cases. Vartolo’s Naxos issue is the one that sticks out as the most relaxed – but that is only in direct comparison with the others. On its own, it is a fully valid representation of the work. The BIS is possibly the lightest and freshest, which doesn’t mean that it misses the tragical elements. Savall is very close to this, with the same rhythmic vitality. I called the BIS a “swinging” Orfeo in my review and Savall deserves the same epithet.
The singing is also on a generally high level. Luciana Mancini, who doubles as La Musica and Euridice, sings beautifully. Euridice is certainly a secondary role, so it is logical that the opera is titled only after the male hero. The pastori and ninfi and later spiriti are excellent in their various guises and contribute greatly to the taut atmosphere of the recording, which was set down during five consecutive days in the summer of 2021, obviously preceded by actual stage performances, since there are photos in the booklet.
Among the meatier roles, Salvo Vitale is authoritative and darkly expressive as both Caronte and Plutone, and Furio Zanasi, a one-time Orfeo himself, is a worthy Apollo. Veteran Sara Mingardo is a deeply involved and touching Messaggiera in the second act, one of the dramatic highpoints in this work. Generally this role is superbly cast in the other recordings mentioned here: Cathy Berberian (Harnoncourt) is legendary of course, but Anne Sofie von Otter (Gardiner) and Maria Forsström (Malmberg) are certainly up to the mark as well. Possibly the best singing on this recording is delivered by Marianne Beate Kielland as Speranza in act III – such beauty of tone, such warmth of feeling! She returns in Act IV as a touching Proserpine – marvellous singing indeed!
Last but not least: Orfeo himself. Mark Mauillon was a new name to me, and he has to compete with several prominent names, which he does successfully. His is a many-facetted psychological portrait of a human being – not a mythological creature: the pastoral happiness in the first act, Rosa del ciel, the heartrending sorrow in Act II, Tu se’ morta, after the revelation of Messaggiera, all of Act III with the central Possente spirto, sung with the utmost sensitivity, his touching appeal to Caronte and his boundless despair, in Act IV his joy when he, against the odds, gets Euridice back – only to lose her again. In the last act his long soliloquy where he laments the loss of Euridice and finally the acceptation and consolation and his decision to follow Apollo to Heaven. Here, and elsewhere as well, Marc Mauillon often sacrifices beauty of tone for psychological truth and sings more like a blues singer with raw, uninhibited tone. I have to admit that no other reading has touched me so deeply. I am fully aware that this may not be to everybody’s taste – maybe I exaggerate the effect in the heat of the moment, and advise prospective buyers to sample before buying. Generally speaking this opera can stand untraditional treatment, like the version produced at Wermland Opera in Karlstad, Sweden, a decade ago with both folk music and musical references (see my review). This is however a “normal” production of L’Orfeo that vies with the best.
Göran Forsling
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Other cast
Caronte/Plutone, Salvo Vitale (bass)
Apollo, Furio Zanasi (baritone)
Ninfa, Lise Viricel (soprano)
Pastore 1/Spirito II, Victor Sordo (tenor)
Pastore II/Spirito IV, Gabriel Díaz (countertenor)
Pastore III/Eco/Spirito I, Alessandro Giangrande (tenor)
Pastore IV/Spirito III, Yannis François (bass-baritone)
