Chantal Santon-Jeffery, Benjamin Chénier & Galilei Consort - Lagrime e sospiri (2017) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

The mythical life of Stradella, murdered on a Genoese piazza at the age of forty-two on the orders of a jealous rival in love, has inspired several novels and operas.

It is easy to imagine that Stradella’s hectic life provided the inspiration for the captivating female figures who abound in his output, exalted by technically redoubtable vocal writing, as exuberant and virtuosic as it can sometimes be sober and ethereal, and supported by remarkably skilled recitatives, a genuine verbal theatre that offers the singer infinite scope for expression.

The life of Stradella, murdered on a Genoese piazza at the age of forty-two on the orders of a jealous rival in love, has achieved mythical status and inspired several novels and operas featuring Stradella the adventurer, the rebel and above all Stradella the Don Juan, whose amorous escapades, from abducting a novice from a convent in Florence to a flight across Italy with the high-born fiancée of a senator, were never a hindrance to his flourishing musical career.

It is easy to imagine that Stradella’s hectic life provided the inspiration for the captivating female figures who abound in his output, exalted by technically redoubtable vocal writing, as exuberant and virtuosic as it can sometimes be sober and ethereal, and supported by remarkably skilled recitatives, a genuine verbal theatre that offers the singer infinite scope for expression. From the demonic Salome to Ariadne, the model wife turned into a Fury by despair; from Pelagia, the repentant sinner who ends her days living in a cave disguised as a man, to Susanna, the very image of innocence and purity, this programme presents a series of portraits of women whom Chantal Santon embodies in their turn with all her artistry, her intimate knowledge of this repertory and her sense of theatre.

TRACKLIST

Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682)

01. Moro per amore: I. Overture
02. Moro per amore: II. A che tardi a morir, misero core (Eurinda)
03. Moro per amore: III. Furie terribili (Eurinda)
04. Moro per amore: IV. Col mio sangue comprarei… Per pietà (Eurinda)
05. San Giovanni Battista, G.3.3: I. Overture
06. San Giovanni Battista, G.3.3: II. Deh che più tardi… queste lagrime e sospiri (Erodiade Figlia)
07. Le gare dell'amore eroico: Overture
08. La forza dell'amor paterno, G.2.1/3: I. O morire o libertà (Antioco)
09. La forza dell'amor paterno, G.2.1/3: II. Ferma, regina, ascolta… Morirò (Antioco)
10. La forza dell'amor paterno, G.2.1/3: III. Presto, corri ad armarti!… Non vedi che giove (Antioco)
11. La forza dell'amor paterno, G.2.1/3: IV. Lasso che feci (Antioco)
12. Santa Pelagia: I. Overture
13. Santa Pelagia: II. Strugge l'alma (Pelagia)
14. Santa Pelagia: III. Quanto mi alletta… Sono i crini aurati stami (Pelagia)
15. La Susanna: I. Overture
16. La Susanna: II. Da chi spero aita, o cieli

PERSONNEL
Chantal Santon Jeffery, soprano
Galilei Consort
Benjamin Chénier, conductor