Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor)
Beyond
Il Pomo d’Oro
rec. 2022, Sala della Carità, Padova, Italy
Italian sung texts included
Erato 5419772645 [82]
Collections of arias, cantatas, madrigals, and concerti removed from their intended contexts often lack the coherence and dramatic momentum that a complete opera or other dramatic work can provide. During the seventeenth century, it was common practice to insert arias and scenes when operas were revived for reasons such as satisfying the singers’ requirements and taking local tastes into account. The concept album Beyond by countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński and the period-instrument ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro provides a cogent narrative comprising eighteen composers.
These superlative performances demonstrate that the Seicento was a vibrant musical epoch and prove the thesis in the accompanying booklet that these compositions resonate beyond their time. Thematic unity – passion and torment in love – gives the eclectic programme seamless coherence like a song cycle comprising Baroque vocal and instrumental music.
Orliński renders Ottone’s first-act aria (‘E pur io torno qui’) in Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with poignancy, reflecting the character’s feelings of betrayal, jealousy, and resentment after Poppea abandoned him in favour of the emperor Nerone. ‘Voglio di vita uscir’, a canzone by Monteverdi, sounds not weary of life, but lively, cheerful, and dance-like. ‘Incomprensibil nume’ from Francesco Cavalli’s Pompeo Magno receives its first recording, a surprising circumstance given this composer’s stature. Giovanni Cesare Netti and other contemporaries whose music never found its way into the ‘canon’ are juxtaposed with these renowned composers.
Including nine world premiere recordings, some based on manuscripts identified through archival research by the musicologist Yannis François, Beyond creates intrigue and inspires further investigation. This album, Orliński explains, takes listeners beyond the familiar to lesser-known early Baroque works. Scholars will find many selections that they almost assuredly have not heard; music lovers will find much to savour.
Orliński’s live performances that I have attended, such as the title role in George Frideric Handel’s Tolomeo re d’Egitto at the NOSPR in Katowice on 11 May 2023 and a concert featuring arias by Handel and Giovanni Bononcini at the Ulrichskirche in Halle on 8 June 2023, show his capability to energise audiences with repertoire usually deemed erudite. Through invigorating interpretations reminiscent of improvised virtuosity, Beyond generates unalloyed listening pleasure and reveals that early Baroque music is not merely academic, but accessible to anyone who explores its riches.
Daniel Floyd
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Contents
Claudio Monteverdi (c. 1567–1643)
‘E pur io torno qui’ from L’incoronazione di Poppea (1642)
Canzone a voce sola: ‘Voglio di vita uscir’
Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger (1580–1651)
Libro quarto d’intavolatura di Chitarone (1640)
Giulio Caccini (1551–1618)
Madrigale a voce sola: ‘Amarilli, mia bella’ from Le nuove musiche (1602)
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643)
Aria di passagaglia: ‘Così mi disprezzate?’ from Primo libro d’arie musicali per cantarsi (1630)
Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677)
‘L’amante consolato’ from Cantate, ariette e duetti Op.2 (1651)
Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676)
‘Incomprensibil nume’ from Pompeo Magno (1666)
Johann Caspar von Kerll (1627–1693)
Sonata for 2 violins & continuo in f
Claudio Saracini (1586–1630)
‘Udite, lagrimosi spirti d’Averno’ from Le seconde musiche (1620)
Carlo Pallavicino (c.1630–1688)
Sinfonia Demetrio (1666)
Pietro Paolo Cappellini (fl. 1641–1660)
Tarantella: ‘Chi vuol ch’il cor gioisca’ from Raccolta di Ariette (1670/80)
Giovanni Cesare Netti (1649–1686)
‘Misero core’, ‘Datti pace, Berillo…Sì, sì, si sciolga, sì’, ‘Ah, che miei voi non siete…’, ‘Dolcissime catene’ from La Filli (La moglie del fratello) (1682)
Antonio Sartorio (1630–1680)
‘La certezza di sua fede’ from Antonino e Pompeiano (1677)
Giovanni Cesare Netti
‘Quanto più la donna invecchia’ from L’Adamiro (1682)
Biagio Marini
‘La vecchia innamorata’ (arranged for instrumental ensemble) from Scherzi & canzonette (1622)
Giovanni Cesare Netti
‘Son vecchia, pazienza’ from L’Adamiro
Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei (1649–1732)
‘A battaglia, su, mio core’ from Il segreto d’amore in petto del Savio (1690)
Adam Jarzębski (c.1590–1649)
Concerto a 3 voci & continuo: Tamburetta (c. 1627)
Giovanni Battista Vitali (1632–1692)
Cantata for contralto with strings & continuo: Donde avvien che tutt’ebro di vera gioia (c. 1685)
Carlo Francesco Pollarolo (1653–1723)
‘Come allor, che più densi’ and ‘Son tanto avvezzo a piangere’ from La costanza gelosa negl’amori di Cefalo e Procri (1688)
Sebastiano Moratelli (1640–1706)
‘Lungi dai nostri cor’ from La faretra smarrita (c. 1690)
