If ever there was a case to be made for the virtues of spending a good hour listening to obscure 18th-century Italian cantatas for solo voice, this recording makes it–and very convincingly at that. For most listeners, the only familiar name associated with this recording is that of the composer, Domenico Scarlatti, son of Alessandro and most renowned for his 500-plus keyboard sonatas. He also wrote numerous operas and music dramas as well as sacred choral works. These three secular solo-voice cantatas originally were written for a castrato singer, which explains the orientation of the texts–a man speaking of and/or to a woman–and also the uniquely expansive range and formidable virtuosic demands of the solo part.
None of this seems to faze soprano extraordinaire Cyrille Gerstenhaber, who takes complete vocal and dramatic charge of these difficult yet eminently listenable pieces and entertains us for 70 minutes. She shows us what a versatile and agile voice can do when its owner really understands and embraces the music at hand, yet she never overplays it or indulges in tedious affectations that can dull the music’s real impact. This is a significant voice and a significant singer. Her instrumental partners are equally committed and thoroughly compelling in technique, musicianship, and sensitivity to their role in the drama. Oh, yes–there’s some really gorgeous music here too, especially the dreamy opening aria of Pur nel sonno (Even in slumber). The softly singing birds accompanying Gerstenhaber’s final aria (about a flower blooming amid a gentle rain) is a charming touch.
