Francisco António De Almeida - La Giuditta (2014)

1. Part I
2. Part II

Liesbeth Devos, soprano (Achiorre)
Raffaelle Milanesi, soprano (Giuditta)
Clint van der Linde, alto (Ozia)
Thomas Hobbs, tenor (Oloferne)

Il Fondamento (Ensemble)
Paul Domrecht (Conductor)

Dec 13, 2014, De Bijloke, Ghent, Belgium

Just before returning home at the end of his years of musical apprenticeship in Rome, the Portuguese composer Almeida composed this unusual oratorio based on one of the most bloddy episodes in the Old Testament, the decapitation of the Assyrian general Holofernes by Judith, a crucial episode in the struggle of the Jewis people against Nebuchadnezzar (588 B.C.). When it was revived in 1990 this powerful, at times sensual work was greeted as a 'revelation of Portuguese music'. --- arkivmusic.com

Very little is known about the life of the Portuguese composer Francisco António de Almeida (c. 1702–c. 1755). His birth date can only be guessed, and he is believed to have died in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. He nonetheless occupied a central position in the Portuguese musical world of the first half of the eighteenth century, and many examples of his skill survive, including several motets, a monumental Te Deum, the oratorio La Giuditta (1726), and several secular works, including Il trionfo d’Amore (scherzo pastorale, 1729), L’Ippolito (serenata, 1752) and La Spinalba, ovvero Il vecchio matto (dramma comico, 1739). --- naxos.com

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