Jakub Józef Orliński / Il Pomo D'Oro / Maxim Emelyanychev FACCE D'AMORE

                                                             FACCE D'AMORE

Joyce DiDonato / Maxim Emelyanychev / Il Pomo D'Oro AGRIPPINA

                                                                      AGRIPPINA

Franco Fagioli / Il Pomo D'Oro / Maxim Emelyanychev HANDEL Serse

Franco Fagioli has all the intensity and credibility to make him the perfect guide for listeners exploring the musical world of the eighteenth century. As the drama of Serse unfolds, they will discover an opera brimming with both moving and funny moments, and one which reveals the modernity of Handel, who here travels far beyond the conventional musical confines of eighteenth-century opera seria. In this new recording for the Yellow Label, Fagioli and the rest of the cast – Francesca Aspromonte, Inga Kalna, Vivica Genaux, Marianna Pizzolato, Biagio Pizzuti and Andreas Wolf – are accompanied by the renowned period ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, who give the singers every opportunity to display their vocal talents to the full.

The artists’ delight in historically informed performance practice shines like a beacon from start to finish. In the course of the three-hour production Fagioli brings all the many and varied aspects of the intriguing character of Serse (Xerxes) musically to life. Listeners will share his pain and feel for him as he falls for Romilda, his emotions alternating between loneliness, anger and love. The aria “Ombra mai fu”, with which the king serenades a much-loved plane tree in the opening scene with, is now one of the best-known pieces ever written by Handel. “I did my best to imagine exactly what Serse might have been feeling as he sat beneath the tree, and then tried to bring those feelings into my performance of the aria,” explains Fagioli. The role is one of two that Handel wrote for the celebrated Italian castrato Caffarelli (the other being the title role in Faramondo), an artist whose repertoire the Argentinian countertenor has explored to great acclaim both on stage and in the studio: as well as starring as Farnaspe in the Decca recording of Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria, he has also released the solo recital album Arias for Caffarelli.

This new recording from Franco Fagioli and Il Pomo d’Oro is a wholehearted celebration of Serse’s many musical delights. Their performance, full of emotional complexity and expressive beauty, is a wonderful gift to the music world.

Jakub Józef Orliński / Il Pomo D'Oro / Maxim Emelyanychev ANIMA SACRA

This release, Anima sacra, marks a number of firsts. It is the debut album from countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński – born in Poland, trained at the renowned Juilliard School in New York and winner in 2016 of the Metropolitan Opera's prestigious National Council Auditions. It also features what are believed to be world premiere recordings of eight Baroque arias, notably by composers of the Neapolitan school. 

“Baroque style is about freedom and passion,” says Orliński. “There are lots of rules of style to follow, but there are also so many choices to make, starting with ornamentation that you can do in so many different ways. With those ornaments, you can show your creativity, but also get even deeper into the piece and show your artistic persona. It can all be filtered by your own life experiences, which will inspire your choices.” 

Warsaw-born Orliński, who has been praised by the New York Times for combining “beauty of tone and an uncommon unity of colour and polish across his range”, comes from a family in which, as he says, “almost everyone is a painter, architect, graphic designer or sculptor”. He began singing in choirs and became a particular fan of the British male vocal ensemble The King’s Singers, which, significantly, has always featured two countertenors. Before completing his studies at Juilliard, he took a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance at Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin University of Musicand became a member of the young artists’ programme of the Polish National Opera.

Nizhny Novgorod Soloists Chamber Orchestra / Maxim Emelyanychev BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" BRAHMS Variations on a theme by Haydn

After a first exciting solo disc of Mozart’s Sonatas on the fortepiano, Maxim Emelyanychev now holds the baton in a symphonic program.

The young conductor was recently appointed head of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and a new wind of freedom is blowing in two major scores.

In Beethoven’s so often recorded Eroica Symphonie, he knows how to enhance the rich thematic palette and the variety of timbres. His insatiable curiosity galvanizes the Nizhny Novgorod Chamber Orchestra. His unlimited imagination combined to the use of natural horns and trumpets devilishly refresh the interpretation of this masterpiece.

This promising young musician - former conductor of the ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro and Currentzis’ favourite continuist - then visits Brahms’s Variations On A Theme By Haydn with as much greed and sensitivity.

Joyce DiDonato IN WAR & PEACE

The pendulum of human history has continuously swung between despair and hope, horror and bliss, chaos and tranquility. We are a restless bunch, prone to desperation, isolation and violence in some moments, and yet, mercifully, to optimism and generosity in others.

As a citizen of the world in 2016, at times I am overwhelmed by the temptation to spiral down into the turmoil and pessimism that seemingly invades all corners of our lives, pulling me into the dispiriting din of upheaval which can devastate the spirit. And yet, I’m a belligerent, proud, willing optimist. I resist.

And so I ask myself: Is it possible to find a sincere and lasting peace within such deafening chaos? And if so, how can I access it? Is there an alternative to simply surrendering to the inevitable noise and our base fears, instead choosing serenity, audaciously silencing those fears?

For centuries, creators of great art have been depicting atrocity and pandemonium alongside tranquility and harmony for centuries, boldly showing us both our brutal nature and our elevated humanity. Art unifies, transcends borders, connects the disconnected, eliminates status, soothes turmoil, threatens power and the status-quo, and gloriously exalts the spirit. Art is a valiant path to peace.

With the help of Handel and Purcell, among other masters, I respectfully invite you look at the interwoven worlds of external conflict and serenity, internal war and peace, and to contemplate where you wish to reside within yourself.

As I have tried to convey in this selection of music, the power to bravely tip the scales towards peace lies firmly within every single one of us. (Joyce DiDonato)