Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750)
12 Cantates pour soprano et contralto, op. 4

Silvia Frigato, soprano
Elena Biscuola, contralto
Francesco Galligioni, violoncelle
Roberto Loreggian, clavecin
L'Arte dell'Arco

Albinoni fut un prolifique compositeur de partitions vocales. Son catalogue compte une bonne cinquantaine d’opéras (plus une trentaine d’autres probablement perdus) et autant de cantates profanes. Or, depuis la disparition du catalogue de la belle intégrale de Barbara Schlick, il était devenu très difficile d’aborder ces œuvres. Un manque en partie comblé avec ce double-CD consacré à une anthologie de cantates pour soprano (CD1) et mezzo (CD2). Chacune de ces œuvres est destinée à illustrer les nombreux sentiments associés à l’amour (joie, tristesse, trahison, jalousie etc…). De facture classique (air-récitatif-air ou récitatif-air-récitatif-air pour l’essentiel), elles mettent en évidence la maîtrise de la voix par Albinoni tandis que l’instrumentarium est réduit à une basse continue et un clavecin (remarquablement tenus par ailleurs). La partie pour soprano est joliment interprétée par Silvia Frigato, très à l’aise, d’une couleur parfaite ici tandis qu’Elena Biscuola fait preuve de moins de naturel pour la suite. Une belle prise de son et un livret (en Anglais) assez détaillé font de cet enregistrement un repère recommandable pour qui recherche une anthologie moderne du genre. (Thierry Jacques Collet)

The ‘other’ Albinoni, revealed here as an accomplished composer for the voice in the tradition of the Venetian baroque. If we think of Albinoni beyond the ubiquitous and apocryphal Adagio (not so much arranged as concocted by a 20thcentury musicologist, Giazotto), we may remember collections of lively oboe and violin concertos, maybe also some trio sonatas and works featuring solo flute and trumpet. But Albinoni, the composer of cantatas and operas? This quartet of Italian musicians puts the record straight with a new recording of secular cantatas. In fact Albinoni married a soprano, Margherita Raimondi, and apparently had a fine singing voice himself. He composed around 50 cantatas, but only this Op.4 collection of twelve reached publication stage. The cantatas follow a conventional pattern of paired recitatives and da capo arias, two or three per cantata, mostly themed on love lost and (sometimes) found. The texts are anonymous but they evidently draw on a knowledge of Tasso as well as earlier poets such as Dante and Petrarch. Six cantatas are written for high, and six for low, female voice. Albinoni refrains from making the kind of demands on vocal technique as Handel or even Vivaldi, but he proves himself adept at evoking not only the languor and pathos inflicted by Cupid’s arrow but also a sense of context in the instrumental accompaniments. The bass part of the second cantata suggests an Arcadian burgeoning of spring, before a storm breaks in the following movement. A lover’s changing moods are portrayed through sinuous accompaniments to the voice, and a full armoury of ornaments and harmonic devices is deployed to paint the affecting picture of a sighing, lovelorn protagonist. The harpsichordist and director Roberto Loreggian has an extensive discography on Brilliant Classics embracing all the great names of Baroque music, including Albinoni – the Op.1 Trio Sonatas (BC94789) – but also exploring much less-familiar repertoire such as the cello sonatas of Salvatore Lanzetti (BC95525). According to Gramophone’s review of the Albinoni album, ‘Cellist Francesco Galligioni dances the bass-line along, and there’s some immensely musical underpinning from keyboardist Roberto Loreggian.’