Pergolesi: Adriano in Siria Franco Fagioli

• 1 Sinfonia 04:06
• 2 Chiede il parto Farnaspe di presentarsi a te 05:39
• 3 Dal labbro che taccende 04:08
• 4 Comprendesti, o Farnaspe, dAugusto i detti? 01:09
• 5 Dalla man del nemico il gran pegno si tolga 00:35
• 6 Sprezza il furor del vento 03:07
• 7 Ah, se con qualche inganno non prevengo Emirena 03:01
• 8 Principe, quelle sono le sembianze che adori? 03:28
• 9 Sul mio cor so ben qual sia Farnaspe 07:36
• 10 Dove, Emirena? 01:07
• 11 Signor Che fu? 00:30
• 12 Sposo, Augusto, signor, questo e il momento 00:56
• 13 Aquilio, io non lintendo 01:12
• 14 Prigioniera abbandonata 05:51
• 15 Tentiam la nostra sorte 00:41
• 16 Vuoi punir lingrato amante? 03:37
• 17 Io piango! 00:48
• 18 Chi soffre, senza pianto 06:56
• 19 Feroci Parti, al nostro ardir felice arrise il ciel 01:41
• 20 E pure, ad onta del mio furor 01:52
• 21 A un semplice istante 03:02
• 22 E nessuno sa dirmi se sia salvo il mio sposo! 01:38
• 23 Senti come mi lascia 00:47
• 24 Farnaspe! - Principessa! 02:30
• 25 Sola mi lasci piangere 06:25
• 26 Oh cari sdegni, oh amabili trasporti 00:28
• 27 Lieto cosi talvolta 12:31
• 28 Veramente tu sei, piu di quel che credei, sollecita ed attenta 02:07
• 29 Chi sa! quando lontana Emirena sara 04:38
• 30 Ah, ingrato, minganni 03:24
• 31 Udisti, Aquilio? 00:36
• 32 Tolleranza, o mio cor 00:26
• 33 Saggio guerriero antico 04:13
• 34 Qui Sabina non veggo 01:33
• 35 Splenda per voi sereno 05:52
• 36 Ed e ver che sei mia? 01:09
• 37 Fra lombre adesso 02:01
• 38 Fermati, traditor! 04:08
• 39 Tutti nemici e rei 01:36
• 40 Padre 01:22
• 41 Quellamplesso e quel perdono 04:54
• 42 Almen tutto il mio sangue a conservar bastasse 00:36
• 43 Leon piagato a morte 04:39
• 44 E non ti struggi in pianto 01:05
• 45 Torbido in volto e nero 07:05
• 46 Come! chio parta? 01:32
• 47 Digli che un infedele 03:43
• 48 Io la trama dispongo 00:34
• 49 Contento forse vivere del mio martir potrei 04:24
• 50 Aquilio, che ottenesti? 01:29
• 51 Che dir puo il mondo? 03:51
• 52 Bellissima Emirena 02:07
• 53 Fra poco assiso in trono Cesare parlera 03:06
• 54 Figlia, se e ver che mami 01:02
• 55 Ti perdi e confondi 03:15
• 56 Misera! a qual consiglio appigliarmi dovro? 03:23
• 57 Lestremo pegno almeno ricevi 07:31
• 58 Sabina, ascolta! 01:22
• 59 Ah, Cesare, pieta! 03:29
• 60 Soda, Augusto 00:20
• Total Runtime 02:57:53

Info for Pergolesi: Adriano in Siria

Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria is brought to vibrant life in this new recording with a top-flight cast, led by the enthralling Franco Fagioli. New love, power, revenge, disguise, mistaken identity and passionate devotion — the full spectrum of Baroque opera seria is here in this brilliant, vivid setting of a powerful and moving story.

Accompanied by Capella Cracoviensis under the baton of Jan Tomasz Adamus, Adriano in Siria is an opera that will appeal to all fans of Baroque music's unsung heroes

Alongside Mozart and Schubert, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi has long been a symbol in music history of the tragic gure of genius cut off in its prime. Born in 1710 in the southern Italian city of Jesi, his composing career lasted less than a decade: he was dead from tuberculosis at 26. Though well-known during his lifetime as a composer of serious opera, since then his fame has largely rested on just two works: the wildly popular comic opera La serva padrona (1733) and the Stabat mater, nished shortly before his premature demise. Of that event Charles Burney remarked; “the instant that his death was known, all Italy manifested an eager desire to hear and possess his productions ...” - this was not only true of Italy, and led to a considerable, and still persisting industry of attributing to Pergolesi works by other, less famous composers.

Adriano in Siria was the third of his four opere serie, premiered in the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples on 25 October 1734. Pergolesi spent almost all of his career in this capital of a kingdom that had for two decades been ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs through a viceroy. However, the Spanish Bourbons also claimed this territory and early in 1734, their army under Carlos, eldest son of the King Felipe V, was on the advance. His forces were victorious and the young prince led a triumphant entry into the city on 10 May. The score is dedicated to the new monarch, but was written expressly to mark the 42nd birthday of his redoubtable and music-loving mother, Elisabetta Farnese. Interestingly the opening scene of Pergolesi’s opera also depicts a victorious army’s entry into a city – one might well wonder what the 18-year-old King Charles made of the emotionally vacillating character of the victorious Emperor Hadrian as then portrayed in Pergolesi’s opera. It was perhaps fortunate for the composer that the young monarch was more fond of hunting than of music, and was well-known for falling asleep during performances. Nonetheless, in homage to the mother he adored and to the opera- mad Naples public (it would after all have been politic to impress his new subjects), thepremierewasalavishone,witha necast headed by the great mezzo-soprano castrato Gaetano Majorano, called Caffarelli, playing the role of Farnaspe.

The libretto as set by Pergolesi makes many changes to Metastasio’s original text, largely in response to the demands of his castrato star. Pergolesi’s music for him exploits all facets of his remarkable technique, ranging from long orid melismas with rapidly repeated high notes to tricky cantabile chromaticism. Other well-known singers in the cast included Maria Giustina Turcotti as Emirena, a soprano notorious in her latter days for that common problem of divas, obesity (one colleague described her as “a monster of esh”). Sabina, the Emperor Hadrian’s long-suffering betrothed, was sung by the later very famous soprano Catterina Fumagalli; though ostensibly a subsidiary role for a seconda donna, her character is remarkably well-drawn. This is indeed true of all the roles in the work, not least since, perhaps in response to the considerable changes in the text made to accommodate Caffarelli, Pergolesi was careful to balance the number of arias between all the characters. Nor was he afraid of bending the strict rules of opera seria for dramatic effect: not always does a character exit after singing an aria, and some of these begin without the customary introductory ritornello. Tenor roles, like that of Osroa, were generally regarded as inferior, but here, originally taken by the well-known singer Francesco Tolve, this is hardly the case. Even the lesser role of the tribune Aquilio, another cross-dressing soprano, has music apt to his scheming character.

Featuring a first-rate cast of Romina Basso, Yuriy Mynenko, Dilyara Idrisova, Juan Sancho and Cigdem Soyarslan; accompanied by the exuberant Polish orchestra Capella Cracoviensis under the baton of Jan Tomasz Adamus.

Franco Fagioli (Farnaspe)
Yuriy Mynenko (Adriano)
Dilyara Idrisova (Sabina)
Cigdem Soyarslan (Aquilio)
Romina Basso (Emirena)
Artem Krutko (Adriano)
Juan Sancho (Osroa)
Sofia Fomina (Aquilio)
Capella Cracoviensis
Jan Tomasz Adamus, conductor

Franco Fagioli,
is universally recognised as one of the finest countertenors performing today. His voice, with its huge three-octave range, has been unanimously praised for its beauty, while his dazzling virtuoso technique has set new performance standards.

Fagioli was born in San Miguel de Tucumán in Northern Argentina. Early training as a pianist in his home city was followed by vocal studies at the Instituto Superior de Arte at Buenos Aires’s world-famous Teatro Colón, where, advised by the renowned baritone Ricardo Yost, pianist Celina Lis and his then singing teacher Annelise Skovmand, he began specialising as a counter-tenor.

His international breakthrough came in 2003, when he won the prestigious Bertelsmann “Neue Stimmen” award. He was soon performing at such major venues as the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, the Teatro Colón, the opera houses of Essen and Bonn, and at the Innsbruck, Halle, Karlsruhe and Ludwigsburg Festivals (singing the title-role in Gluck’s Ezio, now available on CD from Oehms Classics/SWR). He worked with such conductors as Riccardo Muti, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Gabriel Garrido, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Michael Hofstetter, René Jacobs, José Manuel Quintana, Reinhard Göbel , Marc Minkowski and Christophe Rousset.

His Giulio Cesare in Zurich (2005) caused a sensation, repeated in Oslo (2007) and Karlsruhe (2008). 2009 saw widely-acclaimed performances as Demetrio in Handel’s Berenice (conducted by Alan Curtis, and also released on Virgin Classics), and of Handel’s Teseo under Konrad Junghänel at the Stuttgart Staatsoper (available from Carus/SWR as a live CD recording). In Stuttgart he also gave his first European solo recital : a sell-out performance that received a standing ovation. He then made a notable return to his homeland as the lead in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at the Teatro Colón, and as Telemaco in the Argentinian premiere of Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria for Buenos Aires Lírica.

In February 2010 he added another role to his list of Handelian heroes, Ariodante (again in Karlsruhe) and in April made his American début in the name-part of Chicago Opera Theater’s acclaimed production of Cavalli’s Giasone, conducted by Christian Curnyn. In May he returned to Argentina to perform the role of the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, produced at the Teatro Argentino in La Plata as part of the country’s 200th anniversary celebrations, while August saw his first appearance at the Valle d’Itria festival in Martina Franca, singing the hero, Bertarido, in Handel’s Rodelinda: his first collaboration with conductor Diego Fasolis. For this he was awarded “Best Countertenor of the Year” by the Italian magazine L’Opera.

Fagioli’s solo disc Canzone e cantate appeared in November 2010, astounding the critics, who likened his singing on this “must have” recording to that of Cecilia Bartoli. During this season the great diva invited him to perform with her in concerts in Brussels and London, again receiving “rave” notices. He sang Nerone in two productions of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (at the Cologne Opera and the Semperoper, Dresden) and Hamor in Handel’s oratorio Jephtha in Halle and Göttingen. In the summer he returned to Martina Franca as Arsace in Rossini’s Aureliano in Palmira, the composer’s only operatic role written for a castrato. For his achievements he was awarded the Premio Abbiati, the most prestigious music critics’ prize in Italy.

The 2011/12 season saw many appearances in concert (Froville, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe: Gala der Countertenöre, Schwetzingen, Dortmund: Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Budapest: J C Bach’s La Tempesta) and new productions of Giulio Cesare (at the Helsinki Opera), Poro (title-role for the Hallische Händel Festspiele) and Rinaldo (Teatro Colón). He showed extraordinary versatility in performing the soprano role of Arbace in Hasse’s Artaserse at Martina Franca in July (a role written for Farinelli), and, a month later at the Salzburg Festival under Marc Minkowski, singing another of Handel’s demanding alto castrato leads, Andronico in Tamerlano.

The present season began with a hugely successful project: the production, tour and recording (on Virgin Classics) of a rediscovered masterpiece, Leonardo Vinci’s last opera Artaserse (1730, setting a very similar libretto to Hasse), in which Fagioli again sang the bravura role of Arbace, originally conceived for another great castrato, Giovanni Carestini. This was a succès fou in France, Germany and Austria, receiving ecstatic reviews and a standing ovation at every venue. Further highly applauded performances have included the sacred: Handel’s Solomon at the Theater an der Wien and Jommelli’s Isacco, figura del Redentore in Salzburg; and the secular: Aci in Porpora’s Polifemo (another Farinelli role), and an appearance as soloist at the annual gala concert for the German AIDS Foundation. During the early summer he sings Bertarido in Handel’s Rodelinda in Krakow, and then recitals with the Accademia Montis Regalis under Alessandro de Marchi.

2013/14 opens with the release of an important recording celebrating the legacy of the castrato Gaetano Majorano, called Caffarelli, Farinelli’s supremely talented rival, as notorious for his off-stage antics as for his onstage successes: almost all tracks on this CD are world premiere recordings, and it promises to be a major event of the recording calendar. There will also be a series of concerts linked to this recording. Onstage, Fagioli will sing Athamas in a new production of Handel’s Semele at the Cuvilliers Theatre, Munich, Riccardo Primo at the Badisches Staatstheater, further performances of Vinci’s Artaserse in France, Germany and the Netherlands, and Sesto in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito. He further expands his repertoire with a new concert programme exploring music written for the last of the operatic castrati, Giambattista Velluti.

Booklet for Pergolesi: Adriano in Siria