Search - Antonio Salieri, Alberto Turco :: Antonio Salieri: La Passione di Gesù Cristo

Not an ideal performance

07/17/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Surprising that despite the relatively high quality of Salieri's music, and his role in the movie Amadeus, that the period instrument forces seem to be avoiding him. This piece, Salieri's setting of the same Metastasio passion text utilised by Caldara and Jommelli (among others), would have provided an excellent opportunity for an 'authentic performance'. As it is Turco's cast just sound a little bit too much like they are singing Puccini. Another disconcerting aspect of the recording is the assigning of large chunks of the recitative to be read by an actress, Giovanna Scardoni. The reason for this is not explained in the booklet and it is hard to believe that the notes for the recitatives have been lost. What makes Ms Scardoni's presence more unusual is that she reads the recitatives of all four characters, SATB, and without looking at the booklet it is not clear whether Peter, John, Mary Magdalene or Joseph of Arimathea is speaking. The only two plus points are that Ms. Scardoni does actually read well, and the full text and translation are supplied.In sum definitely not the recording to do Salieri justice, nor for Metastasio's libretto. The Caldara version of Metastasio's text recorded by Biondi on Virgin is much to be preferred."