Product Description Shortlisted for the prestigious Gramophone Awards in 2013, the CD version of Vinci's Artaserse was described by Gramophone as a "sensational landmark recording;" International Record Review judged it "an outstanding performance and the most important Baroque opera discovery of the year so far," with the reviewer adding: "I can't recommend it highly enough, especially if you like countertenors," while The Guardian said, "The singing is epoch-making." When, in late 2012, the opera was staged at the Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy in an extravagant, Baroque-inspired production by Silviu Purcãrete, the response was no less enthusiastic. Artaserse, a story of the Persian emperor Artaxerxes, was first performed in 1730 at the Teatro delle Dame in Rome. At the time, a papal decree banned women from appearing on the stages of the city's theatres, so the entire cast was male, with the female roles sung by castrati. This production rises to the challenge of single-sex casting with an impressive line-up of fine countertenors: Croatian-born Max Emanuel Cencic, who was a driving force behind the entire Artaserse project; the Frenchman Philippe Jaroussky; Argentinian Franco Fagioli; Romanian Valer Barna-Sabadus; and Ukrainian Yuriy Mynenko. Joining them are a lone tenor, the Spaniard Juan Sancho, and the brilliant Concerto Köln ensemble directed by Diego Fasolis. The Neapolitan Leonardo Vinci (1690-1730) was celebrated during his life as one of Italy's leading opera composers. In the words of musicologist Frédéric Delaméa, Artaserse, composed to a libretto by the great Metastasio, "is a key work of Baroque opera and the genius of Vinci is still too little known." The status of Vinci as a composer, and of Artaserse as his masterpiece, is reflected in the observations of the French scholar and traveller Charles de Brosses, who, 10 years after Vinci's death from poisoning, wrote: "Vinci is the Lully of Italy: true, simple, natural, expressive, writing in the most beautiful, uncontrived way for the voice... Artaserse has a reputation as his finest work, and one of Metastasio's finest too... It is the most famous Italian opera." Review This magnificent production is a complete and blissful success. Don't miss it. --Classique NewsIt's a big spectacle, poking fun at the style while paying it due homage, with signing to match. All six singers know their way around a showy cadenza, and Diego Fasolis leads Concerto Koln with stylistic sureness and verve [...] Philippe Jaroussky's sweet, unforced tone is refreshing [...] He stand as a stylistically confident and dramatically connected centerpiece in the Baroque fantasy-extravaganza. --Opera News, Oct 2014
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