(++++) VOCALS OF FAITH AND POETRY

Vivaldi: Musica sacra per coro e orchestra I—Dixit Dominus, RV 807; Confitebor tibi Domine, RV 596; Sanctorum meritis, RV 620; Vos invite, barbaræ faces, RV 811; Magnificat, RV 611. Carlotta Colombo, soprano; Margherita Maria Sala, mezzo-soprano; Valerio Contaldo, tenor; Alessandro Ravasio, bass; Coro e Orchestra Ghisleri conducted by Giulio Prandi. Naïve. $16.99.

Schubert: Schwanengesang; Schumann: Dichterliebe. Randall Scarlata, baritone; Gilbert Kalish, piano. Bridge Records. $16.99.

Dominick Argento: Three Meditations; A Few Words about Chekhov; Three Sonnets of Petrarch; Cabaret Songs. Bridge Records. $16.99.

     The 72^nd release in the long-running Vivaldi Edition from Naïve includes a couple of firsts: it is the first offering of the composer’s sacred music for chorus and orchestra, and the first from Giulio Prandi and his Coro e Orchestra Ghisleri – yet another of the exceptional ensembles participating in this extraordinary undertaking, which began in 2001 and is due to continue until 2027, the 350^th anniversary of Vivaldi’s birth. Vivaldi’s music from the collection held at the Italian National Library in Turin contains some material already available from other sources and a great deal that is little-known or in some cases is otherwise not known at all. The sheer extent of Vivaldi’s musical oeuvre is such that even listeners who know a good deal of his work surely have not heard all of it. In this new recording, for example, listeners who know about Vivaldi’s penchant for setting Psalm 109, Dixit Dominus, may not be aware of this setting, RV 807, which is the third and last he composed. It is a setting that is highly sensitive to the nuances of choral writing while also containing some effective instrumental touches (notably a representation in one movement of water rippling) and a concluding choral fugue that shows Vivaldi’s abilities in a form rarely associated with him. The next psalm, 110 (Confitebor tibi Domine), was set only once by Vivaldi, and is his only sacred work for three solo voices. The vocal handoffs and the blending of the three voices are handled with great skill, and the underlying warlike material of the psalm (“make your enemies a footstool for your feet”) is well-accentuated by the organ part. The contrast is considerable with the short hymn Sanctorum meritis – one of only four known hymns by Vivaldi. The straightforward simplicity of the alto voice projects a feeling of sincerity throughout. The motet Vos invite, barbaræ faces also features the alto, this time in a much more dramatic and intense work requiring very considerable vocal pyrotechnics. The CD concludes with the final (1739) version of Vivaldi’s Magnificat, a work in G minor that was enormously popular in the composer’s lifetime. This too requires considerable vocal acrobatics, but here the sincerity and emotional depth of the music overshadow any matters of technique: this is a deeply felt and emotionally trenchant work that remains insistently in the minor for much of its length, with some sections – notably Et misericordia – plumbing considerable depths of feeling. Even the concluding Gloria Patri preserves the sense of unrelenting intensity. The performances, as has been the case throughout this remarkable series, are exemplary, with conductor, soloists, chorus and instrumentalists cooperating to an exceptional degree in producing readings that are historically informed, carefully balanced, and sensitive to the many expressive nuances of Vivaldi’s music.

     Sensitivity is also a hallmark of the performances of Schubert and Schumann song cycles by Randall Scarlata and Gilbert Kalish on a new Bridge Records recording. The 14 songs of Schubert’s Schwanengesang, published after the composer’s death, were apparently intended as two separate cycles – one to seven poems by Ludwig Rellstab, the other to six poems by Heinrich Heine. The final song, with words by Johann Gabriel Seidl, does not appear to have been planned for either cycle. In addition to being capital-R Romantic in the extreme, the songs are reflective of themes explored by Schubert in the earlier song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise. The sheer melodiousness of the songs stands in contrast with their often melancholy themes – one element this final set shares with the earlier cycles – and Scarlata is quite sensitive to this. The songs contrasting the singer’s feelings with the natural world around him, such as Liebesbotschaft, Frühlingssehnsucht and Aufenthalt, fare particularly well here, with Kalish’s piano complementing and underlining Scarlata’s well-conveyed emotions, which are intense without seeming overdone. Abschied, the seventh song and the last to words by Rellstab, is especially effective, the vocals calling into question the jaunty piano part. In the six Heine songs – four of which are in minor keys – Scarlata is a touch less convincing, the generally dour nature of the material seeming to hold him back a bit. The 16 songs of Schumann’s Dichterliebe are also by Heine, but the lyricism and fairy-tale elements of these particular songs seem more congenial for this singer. The musical lightness of songs such as Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne and Und wüßten’s die Blumen, die kleinen comes through to particularly good effect here, the underlying sadness of the words certainly not ignored but taking something of a back seat to the comparative ebullience of the music. Aus alten Märchen winkt es, which is almost rollicking here, is particularly well-presented. This pairing of Schubert and Schumann is by no means uncommon, but it works quite well here in establishing the similarities among the texts of all the songs and the complementarity of the approaches of the two composers when setting material that, in the case of Heine, is by the same poet. And Kalish is a major asset to the recording, never being a “mere” accompanist but always coming across as a genuine partner to Scarlata in exploring the songs’ meanings and conveying them with strength and understanding.

     The four much-more-recent song cycles by Dominick Argento (1927-2019), heard on another Bridge Records release, are not among Argento’s better-known works. But they are interesting examples of ways in which song cycles have and have not developed since Schubert’s and Schumann’s time. Argento, probably best known for his operas and choral works, here proves fully capable of effective writing for solo voice. Three Meditations (2008) is for unaccompanied mezzo-soprano (Adriana Zabala) and sets words by Walt Whitman, Walter de la Mare, and Alun Lewis. Argento’s medium is essentially tonal, but he stretches elements of the vocalizing for expressive purposes, and Zabala conveys the poets’ feelings to good effect. A Few Words about Chekhov (1996) is an extended seven-song cycle for mezzo-soprano (Zabala), baritone (Jesse Blumberg), and piano (Martin Katz). Consisting of solos and duos, its words adapted from Chekhov’s letters rather than his literary works, the cycle has operatic elements combined with declamatory ones – it is a rather rarefied piece, even with the comparative accessibility of its musical language. Three Sonnets of Petrarch (2007) is for baritone and piano (Blumberg and Katz), gives the words in English, and is somewhat more dissonant than Three Meditations and the Chekhov-focused cycle. The moody piano setup of the second song is quite well done – and contrasts very well indeed with the near-fury of both piano and voice at the start of the third. All these cycles are more-or-less in a direct line with groupings such as Schwanengesang and Dichterliebe, but the last five-song Argento work heard here is something different. Cabaret Songs (2011) is for mezzo-soprano (Zabala) and piano (JJ Penna). To the extent that this cycle reflects earlier works, it is a bit reminiscent of the sweeter side of Kurt Weill (to the extent that one exists) combined with Broadway-musical tunefulness and a touch of the blues here and there. There is a modicum of the bittersweet mixed with a bit of the defiantly upbeat, with the overall effect being distinctly modern – not in a musical sense (the songs remain in Argento’s tonal mode) but in the emotional one of a laughter-and-tears balancing act. This is a particularly interesting cycle, and one that shows ways in which contemporary composers with a penchant for vocal expression can update and adapt longstanding tropes of vocal music, keeping it within the general field of classical song cycles while equipping it with some modern sensibilities that can reach out effectively to listeners whose familiarity with works such as those of Schubert and Schumann may be distinctly limited.