Amanti - Cantatas for Bass Sergio Foresti & Ensemble Due Venti

• Benedetto Marcello (1686 - 1739): Udite, amanti SF A356:
• 1 Marcello: Udite, amanti SF A356: Recitative: Udite amanti 01:58
• 2 Marcello: Udite, amanti SF A356 : Aria (Adagio): Pena più cruda e ria 05:19
• 3 Marcello: Udite, amanti SF A356: Recitative: Credei che il mio sincero 01:24
• 4 Marcello: Udite, amanti SF A356 : Aria (Tempo giusto): Si disciolga quell’empia catena 03:54
• Che io viva in tante pene SF A55:
• 5 Marcello: Che io viva in tante pene SF A55: Recitative: Che io viva in tante pene 01:45
• 6 Marcello: Che io viva in tante pene SF A55: Aria (Sostenuto adagio): Basta dir 05:38
• 7 Marcello: Che io viva in tante pene SF A55: Recitative: È ver che, accesa d’amoroso foco 01:24
• 8 Marcello: Che io viva in tante pene SF A55: Aria: Se a far pago 04:02
• Quanta pietà mi fate SF A278:
• 9 Marcello: Quanta pietà mi fate SF A278: Recitative: Quanta pietà mi fate 01:21
• 10 Marcello: Quanta pietà mi fate SF A278: Aria (Andante): Privo allor delle ruggiade 07:03
• 11 Marcello: Quanta pietà mi fate SF A278: Recitative: Ma quanto, o dio! di voi 01:18
• 12 Marcello: Quanta pietà mi fate SF A278: Aria (Lento): Piangete al pianto mio 10:26
• Lungi, speranze SF A182:
• 13 Marcello: Lungi, speranze SF A182: Recitative: Lungi, speranze 01:18
• 14 Marcello: Lungi, speranze SF A182: Aria (Andante): Nel mio cor 03:03
• 15 Marcello: Lungi, speranze SF A182: Recitative: Giurò, giurò quell’empia 01:11
• 16 Marcello: Lungi, speranze SF A182: Aria (Largo): Sento già nel mezzo al mio core 09:41
• Poiché fato inumano SF A252:
• 17 Marcello: Poiché fato inumano SF A252: Recitative: Poiché fato inumano 01:44
• 18 Marcello: Poiché fato inumano SF A252: Aria (Adagio): Luci belle 04:50
• 19 Marcello: Poiché fato inumano SF A252: Recitative: Questa che mi divide 01:43
• 20 Marcello: Poiché fato inumano SF A252: Aria (Allegro): Come scoglio che l’onda disprezza 03:24
• Total Runtime 01:12:26

Info for Amanti - Cantatas for Bass

In the Italian society of the early eighteenth century, the musical genre of the chamber cantata was popular as a refined form of entertainment. The chamber cantata is a relatively short composition, consisting of a couple of arias with the addition of one or two recitatives. They were performed in the private ambiances of the noble circles. A performance just needed the instruments of the basso continuo (harpsichord, cello, and if wanted for example a lute) and of course an excellent voice.

The Venetian composer Benedetto Marcello (1686-1737) was one of the most prolific composers of the genre, especially in his early years between 1710 and 1720. He wrote approximately 300 cantatas of which over 20 for the bass voice. This is an exceptionally high number. The composer strived to achieve a perfect harmony between poetry and music. As such, his cantatas were an invaluable laboratory for his famous Psalms. These were admired by great composers like Rossini, Bizet, Verdi, and Chopin. Verdi especially appreciated Marcello's recitatives.

The present recording offers five chamber cantatas of Marcello for the bass voice. All the cantatas of this recording are in RARA form (Recitative-Aria-Recitative-Aria) and the arias regularly have the da capo form. The recitatives are often unpredictable in their harmonic solutions.

Like most of Marcello's cantatas, they treat the subject of love. But the lovers are not happy. They struggle with the all too human complexity of love: feelings of rejection, sadness, jealousy, hope, and mourning. Their thoughts and feelings are intended to stimulate personal reflection. For Sergio Foresti and his colleagues it was a great joy to explore this music together with its complex feelings and nuances. In the spirit of Benedetto Marcello they seek to express the words and meaning of the text in these virtuosic and beautiful compositions.

Sergio Foresti, baritone
Agnieszka Oszanca, cello
Simone Vallerotonda, lute
Alessandro Trapasso, harpsichord

Sergio Foresti
studied singing and piano in Modena and in Florence. Multi-talented musician and singer, has gone through different repertoires from Monteverdi to Verdi and Puccini singing in theatres such as Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Theater an der Wien, Teatro Real Madrid and Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie and in festivals such as Mafestival Brügge, Festival Oude-Muziek Utrecht, Styriarte Graz and Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik. His repertoire include: Conte di Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro (Wexford Opera Festival), Leporello in Carlos Sauras Film Io, Don Giovanni and Publio in La Clemenza di Tito (on CD conducted by René Jacobs), Cimarosa's Il marito disperato, Tchaikovsky’s Orleanskaja Deva, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen (on Tour in Netherland and Belgium), Giorgio Germont in Verdi's La traviata (Staatoper Szeged in Hungary) and Ford in Verdi's Falstaff (on Tour in Netherland). In most recent season's he sang as Leporello in Don Giovanni with Festival in Alden Biesen, as Shaunard in La Bohème on Tour in Netherland, with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo in Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem. In 2015/16 Sergio Foresti sang as Leporello in Don Giovanni, Bonafede in Haydn's Il mondo della luna, and Don Geronio in Il Turco in Italia with Landetheater Salzburg. In June 2017 he sang in Maria Saal in Austria in La serva padrona and in Immling as Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’amore. In the season 2017/18 he sang as Senso and Mondo in Stradella’s Oratorio Santa Editta and Santa Pelagia at the Stradella Festival in Nepi, Batone in Rossini’s L’inganno felice at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. At the Festival Stradella he also sang as Amman in Ester. In 2018/19 he is again at the Landestheater Salzburg as Don Pomponio in Rossini’s La Gazzetta and he sings at the Contertgebow in Amsterdam as Alcrandro in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade conducted by Marcon. His recordings include: Händel’s Germanico (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, CD of the month at BBC Music), Mozart’s La celemenza di Tito with René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundy - Grammy Award 2006 and Best Classical Album), Judas Masccabeaus (Sony Classic), Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade (Naïve), Tito Manlio (Modo Antiquo), Caldara’s Brutus (Panclassics). Sergio Foresti has worked with stage directors such as Luca Ronconi, David McVickar, Vincent Boussard, Graham Vick, Toni Servillo and Robert Wilson and conductors such René Jacobs, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Ottavio Dantone, Jordi Savall, Fabio Biondi, René Clemencic, Giovanni Antonini and Enrico Gatti.

This album contains no booklet.