Day 51: Hmmm. I Liked This Because…?

HaydnCD51Wow. What a difference a day makes.

Or, should I say, “What a difference an Act makes?”

For some reason, I like Acts II and III of La Vera Costanza less than Act I.

I have no idea why.

It’s the same cast and musicians:

Rosina: Ingrid Kappelle soprano
Baroness: Ellen van Haaren soprano
Lisetta: Maja Roodveldt soprano
Count: Albert Bonnema tenor
Masino: Frank Fritschy tenor
Ernesto: Rein Kolpa tenor
Villotto: Julian Hartman bass
Catharijne Consort violin?
Frank van Koten

And the same performance.

Maybe it’s because the music is less Continue reading

Day 50: Filet of Cinnamon Roll

HaydnCD50Today’s CD is La Vera Costanza (no relation to George, I’m sure). It is an opera in three acts, with Libretto by Francesco Puttini, published in 1785. Haydn was 53.

This morning, I’m listening to Act I.

And I liked it from the first few notes.

In fact, all of Sinfonia was delightful, as was the follow-up: Menuetto. Haydn’s orchestral music is magical. Track 3 (“Introduzione: Che burrasca, che tempest”) gives us a preview of the voices and the storyline. (By the way, as near as I can figure, “Che burrasca, che tempest” is Italian for “That storm, that tempest.”)

Here’s the cast and a couple of the musicians featured in this Brilliant Classics recording:

Rosina: Ingrid Kappelle soprano
Baroness: Ellen van Haaren soprano
Lisetta: Maja Roodveldt soprano
Count: Albert Bonnema tenor
Masino: Frank Fritschy tenor
Ernesto: Rein Kolpa tenor
Villotto: Julian Hartman bass
Catharijne Consort violin?
Frank van Koten

The first think I notice about the cast is that there are a lot of tenors and sopranos. If the stage is what movies and TV crack it up to be, the drama amongst all of those singers must have been incredible.

Tempest, indeed.

The second thing I notice — after doing a Google search of their names — is that nearly all of them have web sites in Dutch only. From Continue reading