Until the 1930s Vivaldi’s operas were completely unknown. Then the purchase of a large cache of more than 450 Vivaldi manuscripts, a uniquely comprehensive collection of a Baroque composer's work, by the National Library in Turin provided a unique resource for researchers and performers.
One of the results has been an ongoing Vivaldi Edition on disc. The operas, in particular, have been undergoing rediscovery and, while this is not the first recording of Il Tamerlano, it is an enjoyable one, directed in an unexaggerated but lively style by Ottavio Dantone, conducting the period-instrument Accademia Bizantina.
The opera, first performed at the Verona carnival in 1735, is what is known as a “pasticcio”. Vivaldi did not so much compose the opera as cobble it together from existing arias of his own and other composers, fitting new words to the music where necessary and adding recitatives and a handful of new numbers.
The result works surprisingly well. Il Tamerlano may not be the equal of Handel's opera to the same plot, but it has pace and dashes of character to catch at the ear at salient points. The second act ends strongly, with a deeply felt aria originally from Giacomelli's Merope and a striking, newly-composed Vivaldi quartet.
A good cast is headed by countertenor Filippo Mineccia, who makes a swashbuckling job of the invader Tamerlano, and Delphine Galou as a generously sung contralto Asteria. Sophie Rennert gets the lovely “Son tortorella”, replete with cooing turtledove on flute.
★★★★☆
‘Vivaldi: Il Tamerlano’ is released by Naïve
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October 09, 2020 at 06:38PM
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Accademia Bizantina: Vivaldi’s Il Tamerlano — unexaggerated but lively - Financial Times
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