Saturday, December 21, 2013

VIVALDI : CATONE IN UTICA

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 22nd of December 2013 at 3.03 - 6 pm

VIVALDI: Catone in Utica RV702, an opera in three acts
Catone.............................. Topi Lehtipuu
Cesare............................... Roberta Mameli
Emilia................................Ann Hallenberg
Marzia............................... Sonia Prina
Fulvio............................... Romina Basso
Arbace.............................. Emöke Baráth
Il Complesso Barocco/Alan Curtis (Naïve OP 30545)

INTRODUCTION 
REVIEW (*****) 
REVIEW (*****)
SAMPLE
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO (1763!)

Another Vivaldi Rarity! A survivor of his ninety or so operas. It is the fourteenth to be recorded by Naïve, and the reviews are enthusiastic about the music and the performers. The first of the three acts is lost, and it has been reconstructed in this case by digging up some of the riches in Vivaldi's great store of delights.
   The University of North Texas has some treasures in its library, and they provide an Italian libretto (by the celebrated Metastasio) from 1763. It remains to be seen whether it will be a reliable guide to Vivaldi's version of it; he was not the first to set it to music, and he shortened it and changed the ending, so that Cato did not commit suicide but was reconciled with Caesar and allowed his daughter Marzia to marry him. 
   There were some castrati in the original, including Caesar, and this accounts for women singers outnumbering men in this production.


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