Nuria Rial: Venice's Fragrance
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Juan Carlos Muñoz
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: AW20
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 68
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 19439743812
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Le Feste d'Imeneo, Movement: Bella armonia vieni |
Tommaso (Michele Francesco Saverio) Traetta, Composer
Artemandoline Nuria Rial, Soprano |
Concerto for 2 Mandolins and Strings |
Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Artemandoline Juan Carlos Muñoz, Composer Mari Fe Pavón, Mandolin |
Jahel, Movement: Rosa e Lilio |
Baldassare Galuppi, Composer
Artemandoline Nuria Rial, Soprano |
Achille in Sciro, Movement: Se un core annodi |
Gaetano Manna, Composer
Artemandoline Nuria Rial, Soprano |
Il trionfo dell'amicizia e dell'amore, Movement: Dei colli nostri |
Francesco Conti, Composer
Artemandoline Nuria Rial, Soprano |
Sonata for Mandolin, Violin & Basso continuo |
Carlo Arrigoni, Composer
Artemandoline Girolamo Bottiglieri, Violin Mari Fe Pavón, Mandolin |
L'Astarto, Movement: Finché spera che le rieda |
Francesco Conti, Composer
Artemandoline Nuria Rial, Soprano |
Teofane, Movement: Lascia che nel suo viso |
Antonio Lotti, Composer
Artemandoline Nuria Rial, Soprano |
Folias |
Anonymous, Composer
Artemandoline |
Concerto for Mandolin and Strings |
Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Alla Tolkacheva, Mandolin Artemandoline |
Author: David Vickers
A title that evokes wafting scents on the breezes of La Serenissima, a cover photo of a hazy San Giorgio Maggiore taken from the Riva degli Schiavoni, and plenty of charming music involving multiple Baroque mandolins – what could possibly be more Venetian? Well, for a start, most of the music. Five arias sung sweetly by Nuria Rial are from works written for Vienna by composers from Florence (Conti), Naples (Manna), Parma (Traetta) and Dresden (Lotti, a Venetian guest in Saxony). Moreover, a quicksilver E minor Sonata for mandolin, violin and continuo is by Carlo Arrigoni – a Florentine who spent a few years in London during the mid-1730s and later composed works for Vienna. Only one aria by Galuppi and two Vivaldi concertos are bona fide Venetian pieces. Shallow foundations are shaken further by a booklet note dominated by irrelevances and that offers nothing whatsoever about historical contexts, dramatic functions and musical attributes of the six arias (character names are not given with the sung texts). Among several glaring errors, Arrigoni cannot have played mandolin in Handel’s Alexander Balus because he had died four years before its premiere!
Happily, the music-making offers manifold pleasures. Artemandoline’s vivacious single strings and multiple plucked continuo (mandolins, guitar, theorbo and harpsichord) swamp Rial’s limpid singing in ‘Bella armonia vieni’ from Traetta’s serenata Le feste d’Imeneo but the balance between zesty instrumentation and radiant voice is spot on in ‘Rosa e Lilio’ from Galuppi’s oratorio Jahel. Pairs of concertante mandolins and barytons (viols) contribute a unique texture in ‘Dei colli nostri’ from Conti’s Il trionfo dell’amicizia e dell’amore. ‘Finché spera che le rieda’ (Conti’s L’Astarto) has lilting charisma. The imprisoned Adelberto’s lament ‘Lascia che nel suo viso’ from Lotti’s Teofane, accompanied by obbligato mandolin and simple continuo, has melancholic beauty (the final phrase containing a top D has been discreetly excised). Anonymous variations on ‘La folia’ outstay their welcome but Vivaldi’s double mandolin concerto (RV532) has delectable shading from soloists (and co-directors) Juan Carlos Muñoz and Mari Fe Pavón, supported by gossamer-like pizzicato strings in the Andante.
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