Monteverdi, L’Orfeo

“Leonardo García Alarcón proposes a thoughtful and highly theatrical approach to Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607). Despite the detailed list of instruments published by the composer in the score, the conductor still has many questions to answer. García Alarcón’s approach is to customise each moment with a variety of colours and textures, carefully contrasting the action on earth – the dancing and revelry of Orpheus and Eurydice’s wedding – with scenes in the darkness, where the hero has gone to beg for the return of his wife after her tragic and untimely death.”
Judith Malafronte for OpéraNews

Monteverdi, l’Orfeo

Monteverdi’s work is as much the apotheosis of the Renaissance as it is a witness to the nascent Baroque period. This is what strikes us when we listen to this new recording, which very eloquently highlights the contrasts between the nostalgic glimpses of the past and the more innovative lyrical language. The score, which was published two years after the opera’s 1607 premiere in Mantua, is also marked by these contrasts. Does it capture a specific production or does it provide guidelines for future performers? The answer is both, which presents a challenge to anyone who decides to work with it. Leonardo García Alarcón provides audiences with an interpretation that is at once respectful, inventive and theatrical.

“Leonardo García Alarcón has brought us (with Alpha) a new version of Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Its delightful Mediterranean character and sense of theatricality have already made it a benchmark recording.”
Thierry Hilleriteau for the Figaro’s “Instants Classiques”

Artists

Valerio Contaldo, tenor – Orfeo
Mariana Flores, soprano – Musica, Euridice
Giuseppina Bridelli, mezzo-soprano – La Messagiera
Ana Quintans, soprano – Proserpina, Speranza
Alejandro Meerapfel, baritone – Plutone
Salvo Vitale, bass – Caronte
Alessandro Giangrande, countertenor – Pastore 3, Appolon
Carlo Vistoli, countertenor – Pastore 2
Nicholas Scott, tenor – Pastore 1, Spirito 3, Eco
Matteo Bellotto, bass – Pastore 4
Philippe Favette, bass baritone – Spirito
Julie Roset, soprano – Ninfa

Cappella Mediterranea
Chœur de Chambre de Namur
Leonardo García Alarcón, direction

Released in September 2021 by Alpha classics

Purchase the album from d’Outhere Music

Valerio Contaldo, Mariana Flores, Leonardo García Alarcón, Monteverdi Orfeo, Festival d'Aix En Provence, Cappella Mediterranea

About

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“Appassionato subito for this new version of L’Orfeo by Leonardo García Alarcón and his ensemble, Cappella Mediterranea. It is a true success that gives new life to this hallmark of Baroque repertoire.”
Tom Mébarki for Première Loge
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Forum Opera

“Orfeo crosses the Acheron. Then come fifty miraculous seconds, the unbelievably gentle sinfonia passage played ‘piano piano with da braccio violas, a wooden organ and a bass viol’ (wrote Monteverdi), followed by a few seconds of silence. “It’s not music: it’s a cloud, a mist, a vapour, a veil – and above all, mystery,” writes Philippe Beaussant. This is exactly what Cappella Mediterranea brings to listeners. The abominable Charon falls asleep and this long sequence ends with a chorus of infernal spirits. Valerio Contaldo and Leonardo García Alarcón provide us with a reading of this scena that is both intense and suspended, vocally resplendent and illuminated by the full range of feeling that can be evoked by the voice. […] Another miraculous moment comes during the nineteen bars of Euridice’s somber lament, “Thus you lose me for having loved me too much”. Like Mariana Flores’ voice, time is put on hold, intangible, volatile and otherworldly. It’s all in the score, of course. Monteverdi foresaw everything. He invented it all and put it all down on the page. This production is completely faithful, hence why it stirs up our emotions and takes our breath away.
Charles Sigel for Forumopéra
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Radio France

“After earning acclaim on stages in Europe (the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain) and South America (Argentina and Brazil), Leonardo Garcia Alarcon’s version of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo has finally been recorded with the same cast as the stage productions, featuring tenor Valerio Contaldo in the role of Orfeo, and the luminous soprano Mariana Flores in the roles of La Musica and Euridice.”
Gabriel Garrido for Radio France
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On France Musique

France Musique – Interview with Leonardo García Alarcón on Musique Matin by Jean-Baptiste Urbain

France Musique – En Piste! by Emilie Munera and Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier

Monteverdi, L’Orfeo