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GRAMOPHONE (01/2013)
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6026542
5099960265425 (ID260)
Reviewer: David Vickers
DiDonato
with royal heroines from Monteverdi to Haydn
It seems Joyce DiDonato possesses a sense of humour. Following on from a
cross-dressing album entitled ‘Diva/Divo’ (4/11), now we get ‘Drama Queens’ — a
concept album presenting scenes for female characters, most of them of regal
persuasion but a couple of them vengeful sorceresses, by composers stretching
from Monteverdi to Haydn. This whistle-stop survey of different dramatic
emotions and musical styles not only presents major names such as Handel
(represented thrice) but also proffers intriguing fare by composers usually
encountered only in musicological tomes. DiDonato produces her most emotionally
moving and sensitively embellished singing in ‘Madre diletta’ from Porta’s
Ifigenia in Aulide (1738), an extraordinary siciliana in which the
Mycenaean princess accepts that she must be sacrificed by her father Agamemnon
and bids her mother Clytemnestra farewell. The weeping strings for the
heartbroken Galsuinde in ‘Lasciami piangere’ (Fredegunda, 1715) and the
astonishing sonority of five bassoons for the jealous title-character in
Octavia (1705) each demonstrate why Keiser was highly esteemed by his German
contemporaries. Handel’s major-key lament with flute for Cleopatra (‘Piangerò’)
is contrasted with Hasse’s extremely vivid minor-key suicide scene with forceful
strings for the same character (‘Morte col fiero aspetto’). Il Complesso Barocco
and Alan Curtis are on particularly good form, contributing lyricism to love
music such as ‘Intorno all’idol mio’ from Cesti’s Orontea (1656) and
animated vigour to a couple of quick arias from Orlandini’s Berenice
(1725). Wonderfully sung, passionately played and programmed intelligently — an
exemplary recital.
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