Handel: Cantatas & Sonatas Jorge Juan Morata

• 1 I. Recitative. Ah, che pur troppo è vero 01:05
• 2 II. Aria. Col partir la bella Clori 03:12
• 3 III. Recitative. In solitaria parte 00:43
• 4 IV. Aria. Care mura! 01:51
• 5 V. Recitative. Numi ingiusti spietati 00:46
• 6 Vi. Aria. Da che perso ho la mia Clori 05:16
• 7 I. Largo 02:34
• 8 II. Vivace 02:59
• 9 III. Furioso 02:10
• 10 IV. Adagio 01:24
• 11 V. Alla breve 01:43
• 12 VI. Andante 02:21
• 13 VII. A tempo di menuet 01:32
• 14 I. Aria. Dolce pur d'amor l'affanno 05:11
• 15 II. Recitative. Il viver sempre in pene 00:38
• 16 III. Aria. Se piú non t'amo non ti doler 02:07
• 17 I. Adagio 01:53
• 18 II. Allegro 01:52
• 19 III. Adagio 02:36
• 20 IV. Bourrée angloise 01:14
• 21 V. Menuetto 01:07
• 22 I. Recitativo. Care selve, aure grate 00:40
• 23 II. Aria. Ridite a clori 04:01
• 24 III. Recitativo. Se cangiarsi potesse 00:33
• 25 IV. Aria. Non ha forza nel mio petto 02:27
• Total Runtime 51:55

Info for Handel: Cantatas & Sonatas

During Handels stay in Italy he was greatly influenced by the great vocal tradition of that country. He wrote a substantial quantity of Italian Cantatas, mini operas for one or more solo voices and instrumental ensemble. They are on secular texts, often dealing with Arcadian tales and myths about love, usually unrequited, and the inevitable sorrow as a result. The Cantatas are perfect vehicles for the use of affetti, the art of expressing human emotions in musical phrases.

The three Cantatas on this new recording are for tenor solo, and are sung here with a fine feeling for the theatrical by young Spanish tenor Jorge Juan Morata.

The Ensemble Recondita Armonia plays period instruments, and excel in the two Sonatas which serve as an instrumental entracte between the three Cantatas.

The ensemble Recondita Armonia and Lixsania Fernandez already recorded to great critical acclaim viola da gamba sonatas by Schenck.

This attractive album focuses on the young and prolific Handel during his years of residence in Italy, the most celebrated product of which is his setting of Dixit dominus from 1707. However, at the invitation of various aristocratic patrons in Rome and Florence around this time, he also composed many secular cantatas which have only in recent years received their due attention on record; not least thanks to Brilliant Classics, who have published four volumes of Italian cantatas with the Contrasto Armonico ensemble.

This album from another historically informed Italian ensemble is not a rival but complement to them. Ah, che pur troppo è vero (HWV 77) was composed in Florence around 1707, and Care selve, aure grate (HWV 88) was written in Rome between 1707 and 1708. A final contribution to the genre, Dolc' è pur d'amor l'affanno (HWV 109b), was produced in London around 1718, by which time Handel was the toast of London. All the cantatas tell tales of love found and lost, with pining arias and sprightly recitative, already distinguished by the powerful match of melody to mood and superb understanding of the voice that would make Handel the opera composer of his age.

The cantatas are interleaved with two instrumental sonatas. The obbligato instrument in mind was originally an oboe (HWV 363a) and recorder (HWV 367a) but their parts are taken here by a viola da gamba. HWV 367 is the most sophisticated of Handel’s chamber sonatas and has long been a favourite of flautists, but is here lent an unusual, mellower character by the lower string instrument. HWV 363 is also in four movements, more dance-like in character, and concluding with an irrepressibly lively Bourree.

Recondita Armonia Ensemble
Jorge Juan Morata, tenor
Lixsania Fernández, viola da gamba
Maria Alejandra Saturno, cello
Sara Agueda, harp
Esteban Mazer, harpshicord
Eva del Campo, organ
Vega Montero, double bass

No biography found.

Booklet for Handel: Cantatas & Sonatas