Keiser - Croesus (Jacobs) [2000]

1.1 	Sinfonia Avanti L'opera Croesus 	4:54
	Atto Primo - Scena I
1.2 	Coro 	1:47
1.3 	Recitativo (Croesus) 	3:14
1.4 	Aria (Croesus) 	2:20
	Scena II
1.5 	Aria (Elmira) 	5:12
1.6 	Recitaivo (Elmira) 	1:12
1.7 	Arietta (Elmira) 	1:48
	Scena III
1.8 	Ara (Orsanes) 	2:00
1.9 	Recitativo (Elmira) 	2:20
	Scena IV
1.10 	Aria (Halinacus) 	1:18
	Scena V
1.11 	Aria (Elmira) 	2:22
	Scena VI
1.12 	Recitativo Con Aria (Elmira) 	2:28
1.13 	Recitativo (Elmira) 	0:59
1.14 	Aria Con Recitativo (Nerillus) 	1:46
	Scena VII
1.15 	Recitativo (Elmira), Duetto (Elmira, Nerillus) 	2:07
	Scena VIII
1.16 	Duetto (Eliates, Orsanes) 	0:58
	Scena IX
1.17 	Duetto (Elmira, Clerida), Quartetto (Eliates, Clerida, Orsanes, Elmira) 	3:54
	Scena X
1.18 	Aria (Elmira), Recitativo (Elcius) 	2:54
1.19 	Recitativo (Orsanes) 	0:59
	Scena XI
1.20 	Recitativo Con Aria (Elcius) 	2:17
	Scena XII - XXIII
1.21 	Recitativo (Croesus), Recitativo (Halimacus) 	2:06
	Scena XIV
1.22 	Recitativo (Orsanes) 	1:19
1.23 	Aria (Clerida) 	5:13
	Scena XV
1.24 	Recitativo Con Aria (Elcius) 	1:37
1.25 	Chaconne 	1:47
	Scena XVI
1.26 	Aria (Cyrus) 	1:37
1,27 	Recitativo (Cyrus) 	1:10
1.28 	Ballet Von Persischen Soldaten 	1:19
	Scena XVII
1.29 	Recitativo (Croesus) 	1:39
	Scena XVIII
1.30 	Ritornello Con Aria (Croesus) 	2:01
1.31 	Recitativo (Hauptmann) 	1:24
	Atto Secondo - Scena I
2.1 	Ritornello 	1:38
2.2 	Duetto (Bäuerin, Bauer) 	2:09
	Scena II
2.3 	Recitativo (Atis) 	2:22
	Scena III
2.4 	Recitativo (Elcius), Aria (Bauernkinder), Recitativo (Elcius) 	4:18
2.5 	Ballet von Bauern Und Bauernkindern 	0:56
	Scena IV
2.6 	Duetto (Elmira, Clerida) 	2:37
	Scena V
2.7 	Recitativo (Clerida), Aria (Orsanes), Recitativo (Clerida) 	3:19
2.8 	Aria (Elmira) 	2:53
2.9 	Recitativo (Orsanes) 	0:30
2.10 	Aria (Clerida) 	1:18
	Scena VI
2.11 	Recitativo (Eliates) 	0:42
2.12 	Duetto (Eliate, Orsanes), Chorus 	1:14
	Scena VII
2.13 	Recitativo (Halimacus) 	1:33
	Scena VIII
2.14 	Recitativo (Halimacus) 	0:42
2.15 	Aria (Elmira) 	4:57
	Scena IX
2.16 	Recitativo (Halimacus) 	3:01
2.17 	Aria (Atis) 	2:53
	Scena X
2.18 	Recitativo (Orsanes) 	2:42
	Scena XI
2.19 	Aria (Elmira) 	3:19
2.20 	Recitativo (Atis) 	1:04
2.21 	Aria (Atis) 	1:48
2.22 	Recitativo (Elmira) 	0:36
2.23 	Aria (Elmira) 	3:29
	Scena XII
2.24 	Recitativo (Orsanes) 	2:21
	Scena XIII
2.25 	Recitativo Con Aria (Elcius) 	1:30
	Scena XIV
2.26 	Aria (Croesus) 	2:15
2.27 	Recitativo (Cyrus) 	1:05
2.28 	Aria (Cyrus) 	1:47
2.29 	Entree, Passepied Der Feuerwerker 	0:43
	Atto Terzo - Scena I
3.1 	Aria (Orsanes) 	1:21
3.2 	Recitativo (Eliates) 	1:47
	Scena II
3.3 	Aria (Halimacus), Recitativo (Orsanes) 	0:46
	Scena III
3.4 	Recitativo (Elmira), Aria (Elmira) 	3:49
3.5 	Recitativo (Orsanes) 	1:51
	Scena IV
3.6 	Recitativo (Eliates) 	0:44
3.7 	Aria (Eliates) 	1:21
	Scena V
3.8 	Aria (Atis) 	4:07
3.9 	Recitativo (Atis) 	1:02
3.10 	Aria (Atis) 	2:52
	Scena VI
3.11 	Recitativo (Orsanes) 	1:11
3.12 	Recitativo (Orsanes), Aria (Orsanes) 	3:28
	Scena VII
3.13 	Ritornello Con Aria (Atis) 	2:38
3.14 	Recitativo (Atis, Elmira) 	1:32
3.15 	Aria (Elmira) 	1:56
	Scena VIII
3.16 	Arietta (Trigesta) 	1:49
3.17 	Recitativo (Elcus) 	2:08
3.18 	Aria (Elcius), Recitativo (Elcius) 	1:50
	Scena IX
3.19 	Duetto (Clerida, Elmira) 	1:56
	Scena X
3.20 	Recitativo (Elmira) 	2:09
3.21 	Aria (Atis) 	1:15
	Scena XI-XII
3.22 	Aria (Croesus) 	4:17
	Scena XIII
3.23 	Recitativo (Cyrus) 	1:16
3.24 	Recitativo (Cyrus) 	3:22
3.25 	Aria (Croesus) 	3:10
3.26 	Recitativo (Cyrus, Solon) 	6:36
3.27 	Coro 	1:02

Soprano – Brigitte Eisenfeld, Dorothea Röschmann, Johanna Stojković, Salomé Haller 
Countertenor – Graham Pushee
Tenor – Kurt Azesberger, Markus Schäfer, Werner Güra 
Baritone – Johannes Mannov, Jörg Gottschick, Roman Trekel
Bass – Klaus Häger, Kwangchul Youn
Choir – Knabenchor Hannover, RIAS-Kammerchor
Conductor – René Jacobs 

Money doesn't make one happy...... but the re-discovery of this extraordinary Croesuscertainly does! Keiser is one of the most astonishing early German composers to havebeen brought to light in recent years. The composer of a good sixty operas, all of themfor the Hamburg Opera, during his lifetime he was regarded as 'the greatest and mostauthentic musical genius ever to be born in Germany', and, indeed, 'le premier hommedu Monde'! If credence is to be lent to the enormous success of its first performance(1710) and its revival in 1730 (the version recorded here), this music is a veritabletreasure-trove: whether it be in the writing of the arias and duos, the innovativeorchestral coloration, the skilfull adaptation of an old Venetian opera to suit the tastes ofHamburg audiences, Keiser proves himself a truly great master. This recording followsthe unforgettable performances at the Berlin Staatsoper under René Jacobs. 'A superbproduction' ---Le Monde de la Musique

Thanks to countertenor/conductor René Jacobs’ musical curiosity, we have a new Baroque opera to contend with, and it’s very different from any of the Handel or Vivaldi works with which we’ve recently become acquainted. Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739) was active in Hamburg and this opera therefore gives us a peek at what was going on outside of Italy, France, and England at the time. He mixes serious and comic situations and comes up with something very different from either opera seria or the French tragédies lyriques of Lully and Rameau. Arias tend to be brief and flavorful and only a handful are da capo; duets just happen naturally and are prone to break off into recitative only to return to the duet form again; and orchestration is vivid and punchy (and Jacobs’ band plays it spectacularly).

The plot concerns King Croesus, who is immensely wealthy and therefore believes himself to be invincible. The philosopher Solon disagrees, arguing that worldly goods are short-lived. When Croesus is defeated by the Persians, of course the argument’s over; but in addition to that philosophical plot line, there are love affairs and intrigues. Croesus’ son, Atis, is mute for the first act, but is struck with the ability to speak when his father is about to be killed. He loves Elmira, who returns his love–they engage in duets early on in which he doesn’t answer(!). Going further into the plot won’t help; the accompanying booklet clarifies as much as you’d like.

The performance is the thing, and whatever this is, it’s goregously performed and gripping from the first to the last second of its entire three-hour span. Roman Trekel’s Croesus is believable without being dislikeable, and his bickering with Kwangchul Youn as Solon is vivid. Once Werner Güra as Atis begins to sing you wish he’d been able in Act 1; his is a wonderful tenor, with plenty of spice and technique to spare. The same might be said of Dorothea Röschmann’s Elmira–the character is invariably in some sort of ferocious mood and Röschmann is spectacular. The rest of the soloists are just as good, and the comic characters add zest. This is one-of-a-kind but more than a rarity: It’s a great work, ideally performed. One Grammy coming up! ---Robert Levine, classicstoday.com

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

yandex mediafire ulozto bayfiles

back