„La Storia di Orfeo“ in Essen and Hamburg
Philippe Jaroussky presented the beautiful programme "La Storia di Orfeo" with the soprano Emőke Baráth and his ensemble Artaserse. The musicians could be heard on 03.07.2021 in the Philharmonie Essen and on 07.07.2021 in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
With works by Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Sartorio, Luigi Rossi, Francesco Cavalli, Biaggio Marini and Dario Castello, the musicians told the tragic story of the ancient singer Orpheus, who loses his lover Eurydice through a snake bite, wrests permission from the gods with his singing to bring her back from the underworld and then fails after all.
The press reports enthusiastically:
"Philippe Jaroussky, probably the best countertenor in the world at the moment, makes the Orpheus evening in the Essen Philharmonie an exciting experience." (WAZ, 05.07.2021, Klaus Albrecht)
"Celebrated evening with Philippe Jaroussky" (WAZ, 05.07.2021, Klaus Albrecht)
"His voice and the acoustics of this concert hall carry and get along wonderfully, Jaroussky's penchant for stylish accompanying ensembles reinforces this impression. However, the short rehearsal became truly fantastic above all through the underlying idea: a cleverly assembled pastiche of three early settings (Monteverdi, Sartorio, Rossi) of the Orpheus myth, with which opera history as we know it today began." (Hamburger Abendblatt, 08.07.2021, Joachim Mischke)
[On Monteverdi's "Possente spirto" aria): "A long flow of heartfelt blood, tastefully ornamented vocal lines that reinforced this impression without drowning it out." (Hamburger Abendblatt, 08.07.2021, Joachim Mischke)
{On "Cara e amabile catena"]: "Baráth's absolutely warm and bell-clear soprano merges with Jaroussky's radiant counter in the coloraturas to a beguiling intimacy." (Online Music Magazine, 04.07.2021, Thomas Molke)
"This aria ["Possente spirto"]also sounds new in Jaroussky's vocal register, and one cannot help feeling that the Ferryman is much better lulled by such high sweet singing." (Online Music Magazine, 04/07/2021, Thomas Molke)
"Philippe Jaroussky and Emőke Baráth succeed in telling the story of Orpheus in a new and impressive way with three 17th century settings." (Online Music Magazine, 04.07.2021, Thomas Molke)