Classical

Antonio de Literes - Acis y Galatea (2001)

2017-07-19T14:01:43Z

Antonio de Literes - Acis y Galatea (2001)


1.Non hay otras iras que deban temerse
2.Ay de aquel que desprecia!
3.Suspende las iras
4.Sientan los que sienten
5.Muda copia
6.Pues que Polifemo
7.Confiado jilguerillo
8.Divina Galatea
9.Joven galán
10.Con que en tu nobleza...?
11.Al aire de los suspiros
12.Estrafalaria deidad
13.Ayer, cuando la tarde
14.Dulce Galatea
15.Estos duces cánticos
16.Ten el acento!
17.Al ameno silencio
18.Qué poco a asustar llega
19.Aunque contra mí indignado
20.Huid de las iras del monstruo indignado
21.Qué demonios es esto?
22.Qzeda en paz
23.Númenes del mar sagrado
24.Acis dichoso
25.Viva quien hace siglos de dichas sus anos

Al Ayre Español 
Eduardo Lopez Banzo - conductor

Accis y Galatea was first performed in the Royal Palace in Madrid in 1708. It quickly became one of the most famous of zarzuelas, the Spanish music-drama form that flourished in the late Baroque. Zarzuelas were a blend of sung and spoken episodes, usually performed by women actors who took both male and female roles. In the hands of Antonio Literes, director of court music, the zarzuela's musical content became increasingly sophisticated: he wove together French and Italian influences with Spanish traditional and vernacular musics, creating fast-moving scores that smoothly integrated a brilliant array of song-forms. This version of Accis y Galatea (which omits the spoken episodes) is the seventh release in Al Ayre Espanol's excellent survey of Spanish Baroque music. The care and expertise lavished on previous discs is again evident, with Marta Almajano's fine Galatea receiving vivid support from Lola Casariego's Acis, Xenia Meijer's Glauco and the small group of instrumentalists. The result is a bravura performance: ancient lamento, folk seguidillas and Italianate da capo arias jostle together, guitars and castanets mingle with obbligato violins. And all are carried along in a thrilling rhythmic flow that leaves the listener giddy with pleasure while confirming Literes as one of the Baroque's major composers. ---BBC Review

During the first half of the 17th century the Spanish zarzuela, a play with a mixture of spoken and sung dialogue, was transformed from court entertainment to public theatre. Antonio Literes, probably the most original composer in the genre, was an important figure in this shift, mainly because of the enormous popularity of just one of his four surviving zarzuela s, Acis y Galatea. Composed for performance at court in 1708, its text retells the story, much used by 17th- and 18th-century composers for the stage, of the love between the sea-nymph Galatea and the shepherd Acis, and the jealousy that this provoked in the grotesque Cyclops, Polyphemus. The settings by Lully and Handel are the best known, but that by Literes also has a place in the story of the reception of the tale, most familiar to audiences from its appearance in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Even in Spain this piece is little known and rarely performed, and its revival by Al Ayre Espanol directed by Eduardo Lopez Banzo, the foremost interpreters of Spanish baroque music, is greatly to be welcomed. This ensemble have already acquired a justly deserved reputation for their imaginative and ambitious performances of rediscovered works, performed on either baroque instruments or copies, and this latest record in the series will undoubtedly delight their growing band of devotees. There is great charm and inventiveness in this music, which ingeniously blends elements of Spanish tradition with Italianate gestures, and Al Ayre Espanol respond with a reading that is fresh and direct, with the contrasting situations and characters inherent in the text vividly portrayed.

In a cast dominated by women (including the role of Acis, brilliantly sung by Lola Casariego), Jordi Ricart puts in a virtuoso double performance as Momo the clown as well as Polifemo, with a notable characterisation of the latter in his brief comic solo ‘Dulce Galatea’. Lopez Banzo does not linger, there is some fine playing from the group (even if the local colour of castanets and guitar is a little overapplied), and the fast-moving choruses which frame the piece are done with verve. --- gramophone.co.uk

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Literes - Los Elementos (1998)

2017-11-10T14:58:13Z

Literes - Los Elementos (1998)


1 	Frondosa, Apacible Estancia / Moradores De Estas Playas 	
2 	Y Así Le Festejen 	
3 	Pues Reverentes Aves Le Gorjean 	
4 	Recitado: Y Al Rápido Sonido De Mi Aliento / Arieta: Olmo Apacible 	
5 	Recitado: Mas Si Fuese La Planta Fugitiva 	
6 	Y Pues Soy El Agua 	
7 	El Ayre Soy / Arieta: Surque Halagüeña 	
8 	Recitado: No Podrá / Arieta: De Flores Vestida 	
9 	Y En Tan Triste Confución 	
10 	Arieta: Ay Amor 	
11 	Sienta La Terra 	
12 	Recitado: Mas En La Oscura Noche / Arieta: Sedienta De Infujos 	
13 	Iras Fatales Fulminan 	
14 	Recitado: Y Aunque Intende La Fatiga / Arieta: Risueña El Aurora 	
15 	Recitado: Y Pues La Luz 	
16 	Y Sus Acordes Fragancias 	
17 	Recitado: Y Pues Ya Se Desvían / Arieta: En Brazos Del Alba 	
18 	Recitado: Deidades, Que En El Monte / Arieta: Suenen Los Clarines 	
19 	Dormida Fatiga 	
20 	El Moble Diamante 	
21 	Y Pues Tierra 	
22 	Flores; Aves; Fuentes; Rios 	
23 	Esfera Copiosa

Marta Almajano (El Ayre, La Aurora)
Lola Casariego (La Tierra)
Anne Grimm (El Agua)
Xenia Meijer (El Fuego)
Jordi Ricard (El Tiempo)
Carlos Mena (countertenor)
Al Ayre Español
Eduardo López Banzo - conductor

This latest offering from Al Ayre Espanol is as fascinating as their three previous discs (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 8/95, 1/96 and 7/97) for the insight it affords into the little-explored territory of the Spanish baroque. Unlike their earlier ‘anthology’ recordings, however, this CD is dedicated to a single, larger-scale piece: Los elementos by the court composer Antonio de Literes. Subtitled “opera armonica al estilo ytaliano”, the work is not really an opera, more perhaps an extended prologue, or loa, that possibly originally introduced another theatrical entertainment, whether an opera proper or a play with or without music.

So little is known about the origins of Los elementos (rather less, in fact, than is suggested by the somewhat misleading booklet-notes), that it is difficult to categorize or contextualize at present. What is absolutely clear is the influence of the Italian style that pervaded the Spanish court towards the end of the seventeenth century and was given further impetus with the accession of the first Bourbon king in 1700. The succession of recitatives and arias in Los elementos is occasionally disrupted by the introduction of the indigenous verse-and-refrain form of estribillo and coplas; even here the musical style is wholeheartedly Italian, which makes the use of castanets (for the most part in the tutti sections) seem totally anachronistic. Apart from this quibble, however, the performance is generally excellent with a strong line-up of Spanish singers, of whom Marta Almajano will be the most familiar to those who have enjoyed Al Ayre Espanol’s other recordings.

The roles of the four elements are taken by four female voices, while the figure of Tiempo (Time) is here sung by the Catalan baritone Jordi Ricart. Literes gives his soloists plenty of opportunity to shine, seemingly quite at home with the virtuoso aria as well as with the lyrical style of recitative characteristic of music for the Spanish theatre. In the first part of the piece the properties of the four elements – air, earth, fire and water – are described, giving the composer plenty of scope for contrast, while the portrayal of the gradual arrival of dawn – and the ways in which each of the elements is affected – is equally vividly drawn.

Literes proves himself to be a composer of imagination and secure technique; possibly in a future interpretation a greater sense of the whole might be achieved as there is a slight start-stop feel to Eduardo Lopez Banzo’s pacing, although the choice of tempos is on the whole convincing. The playing is fine (the continuo occasionally over-exuberant), and the overall sound is very good. I would strongly recommend this CD to anyone with an interest in baroque music (and not just Spanish music) for the quality of the work and the contribution this recording makes to a richer and fuller picture of the musical past. --- Tess Knighton, gramophone.co.uk

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Literes – Jupiter y Semele (2003)

2017-07-14T15:48:53Z

Literes – Jupiter y Semele (2003)

Disc: 1
  1. Sinfonia
  2. Venid moradores de Thebas, venid!
  3. Fuego, fuego repita en todo el Orizonte
  4. Y tu imagen fementida
  5. Y pues ya de tu ultrage, y tu tormento
  6. Valedme Cielos!
  7. Vago escandalo del ayre
  8. Divina Juno hermosa
  9. A mi me violenta
  10. Ay, Cupido! pluviera al alto cielo
  11. A mi me han dado los Cielos
  12. Que puede hazer quien sabe adorar?
  13. El Cielo, La tierra
  14. Pues siendo de esta suerte
  15. Ha, de los concavos senos del mar!
  16. Y a fin de que logre Thebas tanta dicha
  17. Pesadote, majadero
  18. Quiere un dueno essta cara
  19. Arroyuelo puro
  20. Mas, o se abulta el deseo
  21. Amada prima
  22. Miente, Semele bella
  23. No, no te possea
  24. Como accion tan grosera...?
  25. Teme, teme el oraculo
  26. Alienta, Desconfia
  27. Jupiter, de ti animada
  28. Para quando se hizieron los rayos vengativos?
  29. En venganza, y en furor

Disc: 2
  1. Temblante Estilo Italiano
  2. Fugitivo arroyuelo
  3. Esfinge de estos jardines
  4. Haziendo, que pida su dano
  5. Pues, penetrando el jardin
  6. Fugitivo arroyuelo
  7. Ya que estamos a solas
  8. Selva amena, jardin fertil
  9. Mas no teneys que dezirme
  10. No disperteys a quien duerme
  11. Por mas que me persuadas
  12. Numenes inmortales!
  13. Que hare quanto me pidiere
  14. Pues ya, Jove, que has jurado
  15. No he de enmudecer, Ilorar?
  16. Adios, dueno hermoso
  17. Oye, aguarda, escucha, espera!
  18. Soldados, a tierra!
  19. Lleve el Demonio la artesa!
  20. Llevad 'marido', la artesa
  21. Guapo de la artesilla
  22. Batalla
  23. Astrea, no sabes quanto me he holgado
  24. Ven dulcissimo bien
  25. Valgame el Cielo, los orbes se estremecen!
  26. O, Cielos ingratos!
  27. Semele! Mas ya murio
  28. Llora, Jupiter, Llora
  29. Juno fingida
  30. Moradores de estas selvas!

Marta Almajano – Jupiter (soprano)
Soledad Cardoso – Juno (soprano)
Lola Casariego – Cupido (mezzo-soprano)
Marina Pardo – Enarreta (mezzo-soprano)
José Hernandez – Ydaspes (countertenor)
Jordi Ricart – Cadmo, Satiro (baritone)
Virginia Ardid –Semele (actress)
Al Ayre Español
Eduardo Lopez Banzo (conductor)

[recorded live, Teatro Municipal de Artà,
Mallorca, February 2003]

Those familiar with Handel’s Semele will be familiar with this 1718 zarzuela’s plot: Jupiter is in love with Semele; Juno, Jupiter’s wife, enlists Cupid (who is furious with the god for burning down his temple) and plots revenge. The end comes when Semele is convinced by Juno in disguise to experience Jupiter in all his glory; the god’s flames destroy her. In this work, there is a comic sub-plot involving the amours of a satyr, and another concerning Cadmus and Hydaspes. Since depth of involvement in plot isn’t really an issue here, the diversions are charming rather than problematic; the music for the minor characters clearly is more “popular” than that for the gods and Semele, whose music is Baroquely operatic and requires a certain virtuosity. (Well, actually, Semele is a speaking role, but the others have fine operatic turns.) There is spoken dialog from all the characters at one point or another, but never so much as to make the musical episodes seem disconnected.

This performance was taped live in Mallorca, and, some stage noises and not-always-perfect singing aside, it’s a pleasure from start to finish. In addition to the usual strings, there are prominent recorders, an oboe, a guitar, and castanets. Virginia Ardi acts well as Semele, perky and impetuous at first, very moving in her death scene. Marta Almajano, a soprano Jupiter, is excellent throughout, but she sings with particlar beauty and fine legato in her lament after Semele’s death. Both Lola Casariego and Soledad Cardoso, as Cupid and Juno, sing and act maliciously well and their many duets are high points. The others in the cast, including the one low voice, baritone Jordi Ricart as Cadmus and the Satyr, are fine.

Conductor Eduardo López Banzo adds the occasional piece of instrumental music by contemporary composers (two anonymous and one by Domenico Scarlatti) and Al Ayre Español plays gloriously, with verve, accuracy, and rhythmic punch. Antonio de Literes, previously unknown to me, is a fine composer, writing for instruments and voices with sophistication and an ear for sheer entertainment. This work is unique and recommended. --- Robert Levine, classicstoday.com

Antonio de Literes (1673-1747) is perhaps the most distinctive voice of the Spanish Baroque; and although this impressive zarzuela is only attributed to him, all internal evidence points to it being his work. Written like Acis y Galatea and Los Elementos to a text by José de Cañizares, Júpiter y Semele had the first of several productions on May 9, 1718 at Madrid's Teatro de la Cruz, predating Handel's English opera Semele (never, pace Cristina Diego Pacheco's otherwise impeccable notes, thought of as an oratorio) by twenty-six years.

Júpiter y Semele may not rival what is after all one of Handel's supreme masterpieces, but then it does not aim at the same mark. Where Handel, greatest of Enlightenment music-dramatists, presents an operatic range of situations and raw emotions triggered by love and desire, Literes is more distanced, fashioning a sophisticated mix of high allegory and low comedy. Spoken dialogue alternates with sung numbers, ranging from operatic recits and da capo arias down to comedy dúos al español in the fast-moving manner of the baroque zarzuela. The score’s variety is a delight, not least for the energised choral epigrams which frame several of the scenes.

Character and psychology are not Literes' prime concerns; but Semele herself - unusually - is a speaking role, and in this atmospheric and urgent live concert recording (made this February in Literes’ native Mallorca) Virginia Ardid is able to bring an actor's subtlety and power to her scenes with Jupiter. This makes for some unusual effects - notably at the catastrophe, where Semele is incinerated by embracing (as she herself has demanded) the God in his true fiery form. The alternation of sung and spoken strophes for the two protagonists makes for gripping drama. Rarely can even Marta Almajano have given such a towering performance as she does here, and Jupiter's poised lament after Semele's death is, fittingly, the musical highpoint of the performance.

The villains of the piece, Cupid and Juno, are played with spiteful verve if less vocal distinction by Lola Casariego and Soledad Cardoso, contrasted in timbre and working well in tandem. The supporting singers are generally excellent, though the minor subplot of King Cadmus' war with Ydaspes suffers from the latter's limitation as a speaking actor. Eduardo López Banzo and Al Ayre Español have always played Spanish baroque as if to the manner born, but there's an unbuttoned urgency here which makes this their most rewarding zarzuela performance yet.

It's tricked out with instrumental additions from contemporary sources, and suitable helpings of dialogue. There are good notes as well as Cañizares' elegant Spanish original text, usefully translated into French and German as well as ... though I'm not sure English is quite the right word for Mark Owen's rendition, which makes very little sense and contains a host of howlers. It's time he upgraded his translation software or monitored the results more carefully. The whole is most attractively packaged by Harmonia Mundi, and altogether Júpiter y Semele is easily the most vivid recording to date of any baroque zarzuela. ---Christopher Webber, zarzuela.net

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