Armonia Atenea and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou - Rossini (2016)

Curiously, Rossini has composed two roles for a castrato: to Alceo in the cantata Il vero omaggio, and that of Arsaces in Aureliano in Palmira, both for Giambattista Velluti, the last castrato internationally renowned opera . Against the Argentine tenor Franco Fagioli has deliberately given up these roles to this album Rossini, preferring to focus on transvestites roles that address sexual ambiguity from another angle. In operas "serious" by Rossini, rarely given today, there are many male characters whose roles were written for singers. Already, in the Baroque era, the role of the "primo uomo" could be entrusted to a woman if we did not have the proper castrato. When castration went out of fashion in the early nineteenth century (although it was still practiced it, for one), the mezzo-sopranos finally reached their heyday replacing with great success in the castrati roles transvestites. But the objective of Fagioli is precisely to make these roles a bit of "purity and miraculous agility," Rossini said that both enjoy in the castrato voice. Naturally, we can only imagine what the voice Velluti. The Rossini Fagioli presents itself as an imaginary journey in time through works rarely Rossini data, many of the first maturity as Demetrio e Polibio or Adelaide di Borgogna.

Tracklist:

01. Rossini: Demetrio e Polibio / Act I / Scene 2 "Pien di contento in seno" - Armonia Atenea and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
02. Rossini: Matilde di Shabran - Neapolitan Version / Act II / Scene 9 "Sazia tu fossi alfine" - Armonia Atenea and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
03. Rossini: Matilde di Shabran - Neapolitan Version / Act II / Scene 9 "Ah, perché, perché la morte" - Armonia Atenea and Costas Siskos and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou and Petros Magoulas
04. Rossini: Adelaide di Borgogna / Act II / Scene 16 "Serti intrecciar le vergini" - Armonia Atenea and Armonia Atenea Choir and George Petrou
05. Rossini: Adelaide di Borgogna / Act II / Scene 16 "Questi che a me presenta" - Armonia Atenea and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
06. Rossini: Adelaide di Borgogna / Act II / Scene 16 "Vieni, tuo sposo e amante" - Armonia Atenea and Armonia Atenea Choir and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
07. Rossini: Adelaide di Borgogna / Act II / Scene 16 "Al trono tuo primiero" - Armonia Atenea and Armonia Atenea Choir and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
08. Rossini: Tancredi / Act I / Scene 3 "O sospirato lido" - Armonia Atenea and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou and Sergiu Nastasa
09. Rossini: Tancredi / Act I / Scene 3 "Dolci d'amor parole" - Armonia Atenea and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou and Sergiu Nastasa
10. Rossini: Adelaide di Borgogna / Act I / Scene 2 "Salve, Italia" - Armonia Atenea and Armonia Atenea Choir and George Petrou
11. Rossini: Adelaide di Borgogna / Act I / Scene 2 "O sacra alla virtù" - Armonia Atenea and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
12. Rossini: Adelaide di Borgogna / Act I / Scene 2 "Soffri la tua sventura … Amica speme" - Armonia Atenea and Dimitris Vamvas and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
13. Rossini: Semiramide / Act I / Scene 2 "Eccomi alfine in Babilonia" - Armonia Atenea and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
14. Rossini: Semiramide / Act I / Scene 2 "Ah, quel giorno ognor rammento" - Armonia Atenea and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
15. Rossini: Eduardo e Cristina / Act 2 / Scene 12 "Nel misero tuo stato" - Armonia Atenea and Armonia Atenea Choir and George Petrou
16. Rossini: Eduardo e Cristina / Act 2 / Scene 12 "Ah! Chi sa dirmi se la sposa" - Armonia Atenea and Armonia Atenea Choir and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou
17. Rossini: Eduardo e Cristina / Act 2 / Scene 12 "La pietà che in sen serbate" - Armonia Atenea and Armonia Atenea Choir and Christos Kechris and Franco Fagioli and George Petrou