Hasse - Cleofide (William Christie) [2011]

Posted By: Sowulo

Hasse - Cleofide (William Christie) [2011]
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE, LOG | Covers | 4cd, 986.98 MB
Classical | Label: Capriccio | Catalog Number: 7080

Recorded back in 1986, and reissued several times in different forms, including a new reissue, Hasse’s Cleofide is a very odd bird. At nearly four hours, this opera features only high voices: sopranos and counter-tenors. This gives a strange tone to the work; one is used to hearing a variety of voices in Handel’s operas, which are contemporary with Cleofide. But in Cleofide it seems as though something is missing.
Robert Hugill reviewed a single disc of excerpts of this opera in 2009 (review). I agree with Robert’s comments about the quality of the cast, and the variety of the singers. But with nearly four hours of music, this opera is certainly taxing. While it contains much fine music, and many attractive arias, the recitatives are even more uninteresting than usual. When watching an opera on DVD, the recitatives are important, but for recordings, I find them to be relatively useless and distracting. In addition, some of them are overly long, making for a tough listen.
So, the solution is to simply not listen to them. After ripping the CDs, I removed the recitatives from the recording’s playlist, and was down to a mere 2 hours and 46 minutes, a nice amount of time to listen to this music. There are 33 recitatives for a total of 1 hour and 4 minutes. With this approach, what was a marathon becomes an evening’s listen, and an inviting one indeed.
One can easily appreciate this early William Christie recording with Capella Coloniensis, a group originally formed in 1954 (!) to perform baroque works in historically informed performances. Christie masters this orchestra well, and the playing is impeccable. The casting is excellent, including some of the great singers of the time: Emma Kirkby, in her prime, Agnes Mellon, Dominique Visse and David Cordier, among others. There is even a male soprano, Randall K. Wong, a rare type of singer indeed.
The music is delightful. And some of the arias are as long as nine minutes, with some of the longer arias near the end of the work. The singers perform very well, as do the orchestra, and the recording itself is very clean and precise. The only odd thing about it is the fact, as I mentioned earlier, that only sopranos and counter-tenors sing in this work. After a while, I longed to hear a tenor or bass, just for variety.
One can compare this opera to Handel’s oratorios and operas; Cleofide is from 1731, and Handel, around that time, had already written such great operas as Rinaldo, Agrippina, Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda. So this type of music was well known, and Hasse was clearly influenced by it. Hasse wrote several dozen operas, and very few are available on disc today. This is a shame, because Cleofide shows that Hasse was a composer to reckon with; not quite up to Handel, but not far away.
If you like Handel’s operas, and want to discover an unjustly forgotten composer, Cleofide is worth checking out. It is an entertaining opera - though long; just ignore the recitatives - full of delightful, happy music, performed by excellent musicians and soloists.
Kirk McElhearn

Tracklisting:
CD1
01. Akt I. Ouverture
02. Recitativo Cleofide, Poro: Fermatevi, codardi
03. Aria Cleofide: Che sorte crudele
04. Gandarte, Poro, Alessandro, Timagene: Fuggi, mio Re
05. Aria Poro: Vedrai con tuo periglio
06. Recitativo Erissena,Alessandro,Timagene: Questa che ad Alessandro
07. Aria Alessandro: Vil trofeo d un alma imbelle
08. Recitativo Timagene,Erissena: O rimprovero acerbo
09. Aria Erissena: Chi vive amante sai
10. Recitativo Timagene: Ma qual sorte e la mia
11. Aria Timagene: S'appresti omai la vittima
12. Recitativo Cleofide,Poro: Reina a te io vengo
13. Aria Poro: Se mai piu saro geloso
14. Recitativo Cleofide,Erissena, Poro: Erissena! che veggo!
15. Aria Cleofide: Se mai turbo il tuo riposo
CD2
01. Recitativo Erissena, Poro: Erissena che dici?
02. Recitativo Gandarte, Poro: Dove mio Re?
03. Aria Poro: Se possono tanto Due luci vezzose
04. Recitativo Erissena, Gandarte: Principessa adorata
05. Aria Erissena: Vuoi saper se tu mi piaci?
06. Recitativo Gandarte: Perche senz' opra
07. Aria Gandarte: Voi che adorate il vanto
08. Recitativo Alessandro, Timagene: A la tua fede, Amico
09. Marcia degl' Indiani
10. Recitativo Cleofide, Alessandro: Generoso Alessandro
11. Recitativo Cleofide, Poro, Alessandro,Timagene: Monarca, il Duce Asbite
12. Aria Alessandro: Se amore a questo petto
13. Recitativo Cleofide, Poro: Lode a gli Dei
14. Duetto Cleofide, Poro: Se mai piu saro geloso
15. Akt II. Recitativo Poro, Candarte, Erissana: E passera l'Idaspe
16. Aria Gandarte: Appena amor sen nasce
17. Recitativo Erissena, Poro: Germono, anch'io vorrei
18. Aria Poro: Generoso risuegliati, o core
19. Sinfonia de stromenti militari
20. Recitativo Cleofide, Gandarte, Alessandro, Timagene: Signor, l'India festiva
21. Duetto Cleofide, Poro: Sommi Dei, se giusti siele
22. Recitativo Cleofide, Poro, Alessandro, Timagene: Ah! mio ben
23. Aria Alessandro: Se trova perdono
CD3
01. Recitativo Cleofide, Poro, Timagene: Macedoni, alla Reggia
02. Aria Cleofide: Digli che io son fedele
03. Recitativo Poro, Timagene: Tennerezze ingegnose!
04. Aria Timagene: E ver che a Famo intorno
05. Recitativo Cleofide, Gandarte, Alessandro: Per salvarti, o Regina
06. Aria Alessandro: S'e ver che t'accendi
07. Recitativo Cleofide, Gandarte: Qual fausto Nume
08. Aria Gandarte: Spera si che amor pietoso
09. Recitativo Cleofide, Erissena: Poro mio dolce amor
10. Aria Erissena: Se costa tante pene Amor a la belta
11. Accompagnato Cleofide: Qual tempeste d'affeti
12. Aria Cleofide: Son qual misera Colomba
13. Akt III. Recitativo Erissena, Gandarte: Dunque vive il Germano?
14. Aria Gandarte: Pupillette Vezzosette
15. Recitativo Cleofide, Erissena, Alessandro: Un si fatal impegno
16. Aria Cleofide: Se troppo crede al ciglio
CD4
01. Recitativo Erissena, Alessandro: Chi non avria creduto
02. Aria Erissena: Non e si vago quel gelsomino
03. Recitativo Alessandro, Timagene: Per qual via non pensata
04. Aria Alessandro: Cervo al bosco
05. Recitativo Timagene, Poro: O perdono!
06. Aria Timagene: Quanto mai felici siete
07. Recitativo Erissena, Gandarte, Poro: Ecco spezzato
08. Aria Poro: Dov'e? si affretti
09. Recitativo Cleofide, Erissena, Gandarte: Su l'orme del germano
10. Recitativo Cleofide: Secondate, o gran Numi
11. Aria Cleofide: Perder l'amato bene
12. Coro: Da gli astri descendi
13. Recitativo Cleofide, Poro, Alessandro: Ne l'odorata Pira
14. Recitativo Tutti: Signor qui prigioniero e il Re nemico
15. Coro: Al nostro consolo

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 29. June 2011, 17:30

William Christie, E.Kirkby, D.Lee Ragin, A.Mellon, D.Visse, D.Cordier / Hasse - Cleofide CD1

Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-218L Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 192 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -T "DATE=%y" -T "GENRE=%m" -8 -V %s


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 7:48.72 | 0 | 35171
2 | 7:48.72 | 2:15.25 | 35172 | 45321
3 | 10:04.22 | 8:06.25 | 45322 | 81796
4 | 18:10.47 | 4:39.48 | 81797 | 102769
5 | 22:50.20 | 3:09.22 | 102770 | 116966
6 | 25:59.42 | 1:27.73 | 116967 | 123564
7 | 27:27.40 | 4:55.22 | 123565 | 145711
8 | 32:22.62 | 1:07.50 | 145712 | 150786
9 | 33:30.37 | 4:53.48 | 150787 | 172809
10 | 38:24.10 | 0:41.00 | 172810 | 175884
11 | 39:05.10 | 2:46.35 | 175885 | 188369
12 | 41:51.45 | 4:14.55 | 188370 | 207474
13 | 46:06.25 | 1:14.52 | 207475 | 213076
14 | 47:21.02 | 2:50.68 | 213077 | 225894
15 | 50:11.70 | 5:00.30 | 225895 | 248424


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\Hasse - Cleofide CD1.wav

Peak level 83.1 %
Extraction speed 0.1 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC FF6B2207
Copy CRC FF6B2207
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
Track 13 not present in database
Track 14 not present in database
Track 15 not present in database

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

End of status report

==== Log checksum 4C7C6B0BF943CB970B13C6251A3F255982FADFE9D285FA770DC32D74761520D9 ====

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 29. June 2011, 19:12

William Christie, E.Kirkby, D.Lee Ragin, A.Mellon, D.Visse, D.Cordier / Hasse - Cleofide CD2

Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-218L Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 192 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -T "DATE=%y" -T "GENRE=%m" -8 -V %s


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 0:48.17 | 0 | 3616
2 | 0:48.17 | 1:02.33 | 3617 | 8299
3 | 1:50.50 | 2:49.60 | 8300 | 21034
4 | 4:40.35 | 2:04.00 | 21035 | 30334
5 | 6:44.35 | 4:07.17 | 30335 | 48876
6 | 10:51.52 | 0:57.38 | 48877 | 53189
7 | 11:49.15 | 3:49.42 | 53190 | 70406
8 | 15:38.57 | 0:43.53 | 70407 | 73684
9 | 16:22.35 | 1:55.37 | 73685 | 82346
10 | 18:17.72 | 4:09.40 | 82347 | 101061
11 | 22:27.37 | 2:32.00 | 101062 | 112461
12 | 24:59.37 | 4:17.40 | 112462 | 131776
13 | 29:17.02 | 0:54.03 | 131777 | 135829
14 | 30:11.05 | 5:33.67 | 135830 | 160871
15 | 35:44.72 | 1:22.50 | 160872 | 167071
16 | 37:07.47 | 5:45.40 | 167072 | 192986
17 | 42:53.12 | 1:00.18 | 192987 | 197504
18 | 43:53.30 | 3:40.42 | 197505 | 214046
19 | 47:33.72 | 1:42.38 | 214047 | 221734
20 | 49:16.35 | 4:05.15 | 221735 | 240124
21 | 53:21.50 | 0:44.37 | 240125 | 243461
22 | 54:06.12 | 2:46.43 | 243462 | 255954
23 | 56:52.55 | 3:22.37 | 255955 | 271141


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\Hasse - Cleofide CD2.wav

Peak level 80.4 %
Extraction speed 0.0 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC B2B74D92
Copy CRC B2B74D92
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
Track 13 not present in database
Track 14 not present in database
Track 15 not present in database
Track 16 not present in database
Track 17 not present in database
Track 18 not present in database
Track 19 not present in database
Track 20 not present in database
Track 21 not present in database
Track 22 not present in database
Track 23 not present in database

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

End of status report

==== Log checksum BEAA097650FBAC9AEAD168ED139C38338943C52CB1D729B5EECFD22088D42899 ====

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 29. June 2011, 21:14

William Christie, E.Kirkby, D.Lee Ragin, A.Mellon, D.Visse, D.Cordier / Hasse - Cleofide CD3

Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-218L Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 192 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -T "DATE=%y" -T "GENRE=%m" -8 -V %s


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 0:46.40 | 0 | 3489
2 | 0:46.40 | 7:09.05 | 3490 | 35669
3 | 7:55.45 | 1:34.22 | 35670 | 42741
4 | 9:29.67 | 9:03.05 | 42742 | 83471
5 | 18:32.72 | 3:34.38 | 83472 | 99559
6 | 22:07.35 | 4:08.10 | 99560 | 118169
7 | 26:15.45 | 0:47.07 | 118170 | 121701
8 | 27:02.52 | 5:18.63 | 121702 | 145614
9 | 32:21.40 | 1:36.52 | 145615 | 152866
10 | 33:58.17 | 6:00.55 | 152867 | 179921
11 | 39:58.72 | 2:11.63 | 179922 | 189809
12 | 42:10.60 | 5:10.27 | 189810 | 213086
13 | 47:21.12 | 2:30.13 | 213087 | 224349
14 | 49:51.25 | 6:47.22 | 224350 | 254896
15 | 56:38.47 | 2:48.15 | 254897 | 267511
16 | 59:26.62 | 4:55.40 | 267512 | 289676


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\Hasse - Cleofide CD3.wav

Peak level 77.4 %
Extraction speed 0.1 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 59A4CAC7
Copy CRC 59A4CAC7
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
Track 13 not present in database
Track 14 not present in database
Track 15 not present in database
Track 16 not present in database

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

End of status report

==== Log checksum 4B96D22A06F1219B616FC3B88732D2F18AAA91C0589672432A650357C523E18B ====

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 29. June 2011, 22:51

William Christie, E.Kirkby, D.Lee Ragin, A.Mellon, D.Visse, D.Cordier / Hasse - Cleofide CD4

Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-218L Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 192 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -T "DATE=%y" -T "GENRE=%m" -8 -V %s


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:08.55 | 0 | 14154
2 | 3:08.55 | 4:32.12 | 14155 | 34566
3 | 7:40.67 | 1:49.60 | 34567 | 42801
4 | 9:30.52 | 7:09.65 | 42802 | 75041
5 | 16:40.42 | 1:27.45 | 75042 | 81611
6 | 18:08.12 | 4:30.28 | 81612 | 101889
7 | 22:38.40 | 3:17.27 | 101890 | 116691
8 | 25:55.67 | 3:32.05 | 116692 | 132596
9 | 29:27.72 | 1:06.45 | 132597 | 137591
10 | 30:34.42 | 0:34.30 | 137592 | 140171
11 | 31:08.72 | 9:13.48 | 140172 | 181694
12 | 40:22.45 | 3:10.62 | 181695 | 196006
13 | 43:33.32 | 1:20.00 | 196007 | 202006
14 | 44:53.32 | 2:52.30 | 202007 | 214936
15 | 47:45.62 | 3:12.15 | 214937 | 229351


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\Hasse - Cleofide CD4.wav

Peak level 92.1 %
Extraction speed 0.0 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FD9401C1
Copy CRC FD9401C1
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
Track 13 not present in database
Track 14 not present in database
Track 15 not present in database

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

End of status report

==== Log checksum 0B6802D73601E6CCB99C307D4C324A7CBB19E555DE19724971694C0BBB31D758 ====

Performer:
Cleofide - Emma Kirkby (soprano)
Poro - Derek Lee Ragin (alto)
Erissena – Agnes Mellon (soprano)
Alessandro - Dominique Visse (alto)
Gandarte – Randall K.Wong (soprano)
Timagene - David Cordier (alto)
Cappella Coloniensis
Conductor - William Christie