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Alessandro Parisotti put together three volumes of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century arias in Rome in the 1880s, and called the whole series Arie antiche. These three books have since become the bane of almost every student singer's life, since their simplicity makes them ideal teaching fodder--but the same quality also makes them fearsomely difficult to perform convincingly. Singers often begin a recital with a couple just to prove that they can. Cecilia Bartoli takes the unusual step of performing a recital entirely made up of these pieces--and finds hitherto unsuspected riches in them, without ever sacrificing the simplicity necessary for stylistic accuracy. There is little here of her jaw- dropping coloratura technique, and much more of her ability to let the different colours of her wonderful voice tell the story of the song. She transforms a classroom war-horse like "Caro mio ben", for example, into a moment of pure spiritual intensity and longing. And she makes Vivaldi's portrait of a spurned wife ("Sposa son") truly heartbreaking. This is wonderful singing.
Track listing:
1. Scarlatti: Gia il sole dal gange
2. Scarlatti: Son tutta duolo
3. Scarlatti: Se Florindo è fedele (from "La donna ancora è fedele")
4. Scarlatti: O cessate di piagarmi (from Il Pompeo)
5. Scarlatti: Spesso vibra per suo gioco
6. Giordani: Caro mio ben
7. Lotti: Pur dicesti, o bocca bella
8. Cesti: Intorno all'idol mio
9. Paisiello: Nel cor più non mi sento
10. Paisiello: Il mio ben quando verrà
11. Anonymous: O leggiadri occhi belli
12. Marcello: Quella fiamma che m'accende
13. Caldara: Selve amiche
14. Caldara: Sebben crudele mi fai languir'
15. Caccini: Tu ch'hai le penne, amore
16. Parisotti: Se tu m'ami (formerly attributed to Pergolesi)
17. Paisiello: Chi vuol la zingarella (from Zingari in Fiera)
18. Caccini: Amarilli mia bella
19. Cavalli: Delizie contente
20. Vivaldi: Sposa son disprezzata
21. Carissimi: Vittoria, mio core!
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