Filippo Mineccia - Alto Arias - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Ric Ickard - Popular Guitar Music of the Philippines [COMPACT DISCS] Ltd Ed date 07/13/2006

?Like all castrati, Gaetano Berenstadt's hormones had gone crazy, but Berenstadt's were particularly strong with a height of about 185 cm, he is said to have had 130 cm long legs, arms that were far too short and a corpulent belly. A field day for the caricaturists. But when he stood on the opera stage and sang, he was idolised. Berenstadt, born in Florence in 1687 and lifelong loyal to his patrons, the Medici, at the same time Grand Dukes of Tuscany, experienced his artistic career in the first third of the 18th century. He sang at all the important opera houses in Italy and for some years in London. The most famous composers of his time such as Ariosti, Bononcini, Gasparini, Hasse, Sarro and Vinci appreciated him for his vocal and acting abilities. Handel in particular was a great admirer of Berenstadt; in addition to several roles in world premieres, he even wrote new arias for him for the London revival of InchRinaldoInch in 1717. Filippo Mineccia, also from Florence and one of the leading countertenors of our day, follows in the musical footsteps of his Florentine predecessor and draws an impressive portrait of Berenstadt's career on this recording.

Between 1769 and 1773, Mozart made three travels to Italy, under the guidance of his father Leopold. The present program traces the stages especially of his first two trip from 1769 to 1771, during which the young Mozart played an important role in Milan's musical life, and reconstructs the most important musical encounters. Arias from InchMitridateInch and InchAscanio in AlbaInch (written for the Teatro Regio Ducale Milan) and InchBetulia LiberataInch (written for Padua) can be heard. The program is rounded off by the musical background that Mozart found on the peninsula, illustrated by arias from operas by Guglielmi, Myslivecek and Gluck - all representatives of a style and a search for language that was precisely the reason why the InchViaggio in ItaliaInch was an essential stage in the training of a young composer.