{"id":8270,"date":"2012-12-07T10:28:30","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T15:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=8270"},"modified":"2012-12-07T10:28:30","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T15:28:30","slug":"daily-album-review-22-purity-and-grace-in-18th-century-opera-arias-sung-by-christiane-karg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2012\/12\/07\/daily-album-review-22-purity-and-grace-in-18th-century-opera-arias-sung-by-christiane-karg\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily album review 22: Purity and grace in 18th century opera arias sung by Christiane Karg"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Christiane Karg is an up-and-coming German soprano who has released a wonderful album of 18th century opera arias. It is so wonderful, she deserves to be heard outside her homeland.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Bavarian native brings a gorgeous, clear voice as well as a seductive way with a musical phrase to Amoretti<\/em>, released by the Berlin Classics label.<\/p>\n

The musical pleasure is doubled by her accompanists, the 2-year-old British chamber orchestra Arcangelo, led by young British cellist-turned-conductor Jonathan Cohen. Cohen gets a lively, balanced, transparent sound out of his players.<\/p>\n

The overall audio quality from this recording made in St Jude’s, Hampstead, in London, is gorgeous, inhabiting the sweet spot between clarity and spaciousness.<\/p>\n

The arias, all from the later half of the 18th century, represent three different composers all concerned in some way with pushing the boundaries of opera: Mozart (1756-1791), Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) and Andr\u00e9-Ernest-Modeste Gr\u00e9try (1741-1813). The Mozart contributions are all from his youthful efforts, not from the great Da Ponte operas.<\/p>\n

The “Amoretti” of the album’s title come from Mozart’s childhood effort, La finta semplice<\/em>. But it’s a beautiful aria, rendered simply by Karg and her accompanists.<\/p>\n

It’s a pleasure to hear some fine music by Gr\u00e9try, who has been nearly forgotten, as well as great, dramatic arias from Gluck’s Orph\u00e9e et Eurydice<\/em>, Il Parnasso confuso<\/em>, Circe<\/em> and Iphig\u00e9nie en Aulide<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The booklet includes all the texts.<\/p>\n

You can find out a bit more about the album here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is a substantial sample from the album, “Sacre piante,” from Parnasso<\/em>:<\/p>\n