C 9636 PASSO DI PENA IN PENA [11,99 Euro]

Italian cantatas by A. Scarlatti, G. Bononcini, N. Porpora and A. Vivaldi in the arresting performances of a rising-star among countertenors, Flavio Ferri-Benedetti, and the impressive Ensemble Il Profondo.

The cantata da camera genre enjoyed its Golden Era in the early eighteenth century in Italy, mainly in Rome, through the auspices of employers as Cardinals Ottoboni and Pamphiliij and the Marquis Ruspoli, who organized several Accademie in their homes, weekly meetings in which music, poetry and discussions about art or philosophy attracted the most important nobles of the city. The most distinguished of these Accademie saw the presence of the great composers of the time: the newcomer Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti, Gasparini, instrumentalists as Arcangelo Corelli and Domenico, the son of Alessandro Scarlatti ... The highlight of these meetings was the time of the performance of some cantate da camera by such great personalities. The extraordinary artistic atmosphere that existed in the Accademie soon expanded to other cities in Italy and from there to the rest of Europe. Our recording aims to recreate the repertoire that was heard in these Accademie when the cantata genre had spread and had evolved, around 1730: from the wonderful style, nostalgic and always surprising of Alessandro Scarlatti to the lyricism of Bononcini, the glow and melodic treatment of the voice of Porpora or the rich sounds of Vivaldi, all seasoned with an instrumental Triosonata by Locatelli.

There are few occasions when a record producer has the great pleasure and honor to present a truly unique artist, as the Italian countertenor Flavio Ferri-Benedetti. In his recording debut, we fall in love with his beautiful voice, sensual, round and firm. He captures us with his wonderful way to say the text, to feel the emotions, with his perfectly - it could not be otherwise - shaped Italian. He gives each phrase, each word, its accurate meaning and draws from every note exactly what the listener wants to perceive, displaying an unusually brilliant technique. Flavio is joined in this extraordinary recording by the ensemble Il Profondo, a group specializing in the interpretation of the basso continuo, created by young musicians from different countries (Switzerland, France, Japan, Italy, Spain) formed in the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. They offer a colorful accompaniment, robust, sensitive to every nuance, attentive to detail, a pleasure to the ears.

Surely, all those who buy this CD will agree that they have rarely had the pleasure of listening to a countertenor recording of this technical and artistic level. We believe it will become a benchmark in the early music discography.

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Artist

Flavio Ferri-Benedetti, countertenor

More about Flavio Ferri-Benedetti

Ensemble Il Profondo

Eva Saladin, violin
Sonoko Asabuki, violin
Germán Echeverri Chamorro, viola
Amélie Chemin, violoncello
Josías Rodríguez Gándara, archlute (Scarlatti, Bononcini & Vivaldi)
Daniele Caminiti, theorbo (Bononcini & Vivaldi)
Johannes Keller, harpsichord

More about Il Profondo

Credits

Total time 68:22

72-pages booklet , presented in two different editions

(English-French-German and Spanish-Italian-English)

Full sung texts presented in five languages, with 3 articles by José Carlos Cabello and Flavio Ferri-Benedetti.

Recorded at Kloster Beinwil (CH), October 2011

Recording, editing and prodcution: Johannes Wallbrecher

Executive production : Flavio Ferri-Benedetti, Johannes Keller, Cantus

Design and booklet coordination: José Carlos Cabello

Inlay photos: Lucian Hunziker (Basel, CH)

Cover : Antonio Domenico Gabbiani (1652-1726). “Tre musici della corte medicea”. Galleria dell’Accademia, Firenze (Italy).

"10/10" In short, it is a debut that will be remembered forever, because this album is one of those that receives the adjective of “essential”.

MUSICA PERFECTA Magazine (Spain. January-June 2013)

Ferri-Benedetti has a beautiful, aerial, clean, brilliant voice, very agile in the high register and with enough consistency in the low register — all in order to make the most out of the best feature of his singing, in my opinion: the perfect diction, the impeccable articulation of each phrase and its expressive implication. Each word is splendidly nuanced in itself and also perfectly merged into the ensemble.

DIARIO DE SEVILLA (Spain, January 2013)

His voice is full of refinement, exquisiteness and sensuality through a very pleasant timbre, secure dynamics and a perfect fiato. The efficient and inspired accompaniment is performed by Ensemble Il Profondo, composed by eight ex students of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, specialized in baroque music.

SINFONIAVIRTUAL.COM (Spain, January 2013)

http://www.sinfoniavirtual.com/discos/034_cantus.php

Cantado con pasión, con sentimiento, haciendo uso de una técnica vocal limpia e impecable, lleno de pasajes de virtuosismo, con unas coloraturas ejecutadas magistralmente y un control de la dinámica con brillantes ejemplos de messa di voce y recitativos de dicción perfecta y dramatismo contenido perfectamente resueltos.

ELBLOGDELACREATIVIDADALPIANO (España, enero de 2013)

http://elblogdelacreatividadalpiano.blogspot.com.es/2013/01/el-apasionante-disco-de-flavio-ferri.html

... Surely among the best albums of baroque vocal music of 2012 . A star is born”. His name is Flavio Ferri-Benedetti.

SCHERZO (España, febrero de 2013)

From whatever angle you look at it: this is an exceptionally fine disc by exceptional artists. We shall hear more from them in the years to come, that’s for sure.

MUSICA-DEI-DONUM.ORG (February 4, 2013)

http://www.musica-dei-donum.org/cd_reviews/Cantus_C9636.html

Especially thanks to his control of the fiato how the Holy Fathers of Belcanto prescribe, he is able to articulate the phrasing according to the meaning of the text.

"MUSICA" MAGAZINE (Italy, March 2013)

This is a CD on which one can meditate and think for a long time, with ever-growing surprise: a true act of love for the purest and most authentic baroque style.

L’OPERA (Italy, February 2013)

It is a true pleasure to listen how he lets the notes flow - as it is a true pleasure to listen the well-balanced, elegant sonority of Ensemble Il Profondo that accompanies him on this beautiful and very well documented CD.
"HIGHLIGHTS OF OPERA ACTUAL" (SELECCIÓN DE ÓPERA ACTUAL), ÓPERA ACTUAL (Spain, March 2013)