Jakub Józef Orliński (alto) - Beyond (Erato)

Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor)
Beyond
Il Pomo d’Oro
rec. 2022, Sala del Carità, Padua, Italy
Texts and translations included
Reviewed as a 16/44 download from Premier
Erato 5419772645 [82]

Jakub Józef Orliński is a remarkable singer. I am not referring here to the fact that he not only is a professional singer in the countertenor range but also a breakdancer, but rather that he is open to little-known repertoire and willing to leave the trodden paths. In the last ten years or so he has made quite a career, bringing him to the main concert halls and working with renowned instrumental ensembles and orchestras. In the course of time I have seen many singers of this kind who quickly rose to fame and then started to focus on the mainstream repertoire, mostly in the opera genre, of the 18th century. Orliński seems to be different, as his recordings show. Many of them include pieces that are seldom performed, often by composers of whom many music-lovers may never have heard. This cannot be appreciated enough; history is not always fair, and too many works have been gathering dust because they had the bad luck of being written in a time which saw so many brilliant composers competing with each other.

Orliński is an adventurous and versatile singer, and the programme of the disc under review attests to that. The entire programme, which he has been put together by Yannis François, consists of pieces from the 17th century. That was not the time of long and brilliant da capo arias, but rather of short lyrical pieces, alternating with recitatives or other forms of a declamatory nature. It was the time that the text was still in the centre of interest. The programme opens with an example by Monteverdi, from his opera L’incoronazione di Poppea, which is part of the role of Ottone. As all music by Monteverdi, it requires a perfect technique, for instance in the department of ornamentation, but it is also very expressive; the emotions expressed in this extract are convincingly conveyed. The ensuing canzone Voglio di vita uscir is sung with fire and passion, with great help from the instrumental ensemble.

The two pieces by Giulio Caccini and Girolamo Frescobaldi are evergreens and have almost cult status; the number of recordings is countless. Here a singer has to show what he is made of in the realm of ornamentation, and Orliński succeeds with flying colours. This is only possible if one takes these pieces seriously and puts them in their historical context; Caccini’s Amarilli mia bella is more than a pretty melody to win over an audience.

With Claudio Saracini we meet the first little-known composer. He was a contemporary of Monteverdi, and has suffered from it, in that little of his music is available on disc. His oeuvre consists of songs for one or two solo voices with basso continuo. Udite, lagrimosi spirti d’Averno is a fine example of his art – a setting of a text with strong emotions, which are brilliantly depicted in the music. Orliński goes down to his chest register on the word “inferno” (hell). Carlo Pallavicino was an opera composer, who from 1666 until his death in 1688 worked in Dresden as vice-Kapellmeister under Heinrich Schütz, whom he succeeded at the latter’s death in 1672. However, that did not last long: in 1673 he moved to Venice, where most of his operas were performed. Here we only get instrumental music from one of them, Demetrio, premiered in 1666 before his departure to Dresden. Very little is known about Pietro Paolo Cappellini, except that he worked in Rome in the mid-17th century, probably as a violinist. Cantatas from his pen have been preserved in manuscripts devoted to Roman composers. Chi vuol ch’il cor gioisca is a tarantella, a form derived from a folk dance from southern Italy. It is an exuberant piece that requires a completely different way of performing than expressive monodies and opera arias. Orliński rightly pulls out all the stops here.

Giovanni Cesare Netti is given special attendance in this recording. The booklet includes liner-notes by Giovanni Tribuzio, who catalogued Netti’s oeuvre. He received his musical training in Naples. For some years he was active as organist in the royal chapel. In 1680 he was chosen over Francesco Provenzale as maestro di cappella of the Tesoro di S Gennaro at Naples Cathedral. His extant oeuvre is very small: two operas, two serenatas and some cantatas and arias. Extracts from his operas are included here. First we get some recitatives and arias from his second opera, La Filli, written for performance during the Carnival season of 1682. These excerpts are part of the role of the shepherd Berillo, lamenting the infidelity of his beloved Filli. One year earlier Netti composed L’Adamiro, from which we get two arias by Crinalba, the aged nurse. These are very different in character: the first is a comic mock aria, the second is rather tragic. They are separated by a fitting piece by Biagio Marini in an instrumental version, La vecchia innamorata – the old lady in love.

There are also arias from operas by three other little-known composers. Antonio Sartorio was one of the leading opera composers in Venice after Cavalli, and worked also for some time in Germany. Antonino e Pompeiano dates from 1677; the aria La certezza di sua fede is from the role of Pompeiano. Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei was the son of Ercole, who was Kapellmeister at the court in Munich, a position he took over when his father died. He composed operas, but later turned to sacred music. Il segreto d’amore in petto del Savio dates from 1690 and was performed in Munich. Carl Francesco Pollarolo worked in Venice as an organist, but in his capacity as composer he focused on opera. He also composed oratorios, most of which have been lost. In his operas he changed from the Venetian to the Neapolitan style. The aria from La costanza gelosa negl’amori di Cefalo e Procri, which premiered in 1688 in Verona, is notable for its instrumentation; the voice is accompanied by the harpsichord in a concertante manner, whereas the other instruments of the orchestra keep silent.

Giovanni Battista Vitali is almost exclusively known for his instrumental music. He has left only a few vocal works, among them a cantata with the character of a serenata; it was written at the occasion of the coronation of Maria Beatrice d’Este (Mary of Modena), an Italian princess who became queen consort of England on 23 April 1685. It is a virtuosic piece for an alto voice with strings, opening with a sinfonia, which is followed by three recitative and aria pairs.

The last piece in the programme is also connected to a person: Sebastiano Moratelli composed his serenata La Faretra smarrita at the occasion of the wedding of Elector Palatinate Johann Wilhelm to Anna Maria Luisa de Medici. Moratelli was from Vicenza, entered the service of the emperor in Vienna and worked from 1679 until his death in Düsseldorf. The serenata is his only extant work. The aria is a lament, and it may be telling that Orliński closes his programme with such a piece rather than a showstopper.

This recording confirms my impression from earlier recordings and live performances that Orliński is a very sincere artist, who really wants to bring across the value and content of the music he has selected to perform, rather than putting himself and his qualities in the centre. I am impressed by his performances here, where in each piece he hits the nail on the head, doing exactly what the music requires him to do. He has one of the most beautiful voices in his range, and he avoids the eccentricities of many opera singers, such as exaggerated ornamentation and going for the outer edges of his tessitura. This disc offers an ideal combination of repertoire – an attractive mix of familiar and mostly unfamiliar items – and stylistically convincing performances. The orchestra is Orliński’s perfect partner, and contributes some nice instrumental works, whose inclusion makes much sense.

I have to say something about the booklet. My review copy came with a booklet which includes the lyrics, but omits the translations, and also notes on the pieces in the programme. Moreover, the track-list is sloppy: in some pieces the timing is not given, in others the time indication is wrong. On the Warner Classics site one can download a better booklet, with all the relevant and correct information.

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen

Previous review: Daniel Floyd (March 2024)

If you purchase this recording using a link below, it generates revenue for MWI and helps us maintain free access to the site

Contents
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
L’incoronazione di Poppea (SV 308):
E pur io torno qui
Voglio di vita uscir (SV 337)
Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger (1580-1651)
Kapsberger [Libro IV]
Giulio Caccini (1551-1618)
Amarilli, mia bella
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
Così mi disprezzate
Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)
L’amante consolato
Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676)
Pompeo Magno:
Incomprensibil nume
Johann Caspar Kerll (1627-1693)
Sonata in F
Claudio Saracini (1586-1630)
Udite, lagrimosi spirti d’Averno
Carlo Pallavicino (c1630-1688)
Demetrio:
Sinfonia
Pietro Paolo Cappellini (fl 1641-1660)
Chi vuol ch’il cor gioisca
Giovanni Cesare Netti (1649-1686)
La Filli (exc)
Antonio Sartorio (1630-1680)
Antonino e Pompeiano:
La certezza di sua fede
Giovanni Cesare Netti
L’Adamiro:
Quanta più la donna invecchia
Biagio Marini (1594-1663)
La vecchia innamorata (arr for instruments)
Giovanni Cesare Netti
L’Adamiro:
Son vecchia, pazienza
Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei (1649-1732)
Il segreto d’amore in petto del Savio:
A battaglia, su, mio core
Adam Jarzębski (c1590-1649)