Sydney’s 2MBS-FM (102.5FM) will broadcast the special radio program called “Cavalli’s L’Ormindo: HIP, Then and Now” next Monday 23rd November at 9am (EST). The program aired on 3MBS in Melbourne a few weeks back and now it’s Sydneysiders' turn to hear the terrific insights about the comparisons between two L’Ormindo recordings. Pinchgut’s co-artistic director, Erin Helyard spent several months putting it together (see here for a little more info).
Select has given Pinchgut a copy of the Les Paladins, Correas recording (2006) –
I thought I’d give it to a blog reader who emails me the instrument that Erin
will be playing and conducting from in Pinchgut’s L’Ormindo opening 2 December?
Email me (anna@pinchgutopera.com.au) by Monday 23rd November 10am.
Anna
A recent review by Stephen Schafer:-
L’Ormindo
(Pan Classics PC10196)
With the opening of the first public theatre in Venice in 1637, opera
(initiated with the first melodramas privately staged for cultured princes and
aristocrats in Florence and Mantua during the preceding decades) became
the most prestigious form within an entertainment industry that would flourish
through the following centuries. Cavalli’s L’Ormindo, performed in 1644, is a
marvellous example of this exciting new genre in which high- and low-born
characters shared the stage in spectacular productions that mixed drama and
comedy, pathos and satire, contrasting class values and convoluted plots
involving mistaken identities, amorous adventures and surprising revelations of
identity, in much the same way as the Broadway musical would later do.
With a star cast comprising Sandrine Piau (Harmony), Martin Oro (Ormindo),
Howard Crook (Amida) Dominique Visse (Nerillo), Magali Léger (Sicle),
Jean-François Lombard (Erice), Stéphanie Révidat (Erisbe), Karine Deshayes
(Mirinda), Jacques Bona (Hariadeno) and Benoît Arnould (Osmano) and the superb
ensemble Les Paladins led by Jérôme Correas (harpsichord), this recording
perfectly captures the ebullient melodramatic spirit of mid-17th-century
Italian opera. Abounding in lively recitative interspersed with songs and
arias, numerous short instrumental sinfonias and ritornelli, the opera bubbles
along with never a dull moment as the two pairs of amanti (Ormindo and Erisbe,
Amida and Sicle) prove, as always, that though the path of true love never did
run smooth it does, eventually, lead to conjugal happiness, while Nerillo all
the while derides their situation and shenanigans. Far from being an antiquated
curiosity, L’Ormindo springs to life on CD with all the fun of a classy musical
soap opera. One anticipates redoubled enjoyment at the rare opportunity to see
it staged! Highly recommended.