Track Listing

1. Aria - Tu Che D'ardir M'accendi
2. Aria - Ciel Nemico, Averse Stelle
3. Aria - Qui Ti Sfido, O Mostro Infame!
4. Recitativo - E vivo Ancora? - Aria - Scherza, Infida
5. Aria - Sta Nell'Ircana
6. Recitativo - Chi Scopre Al Mio Pensiero - Aria - Mi Lusinga Il Dolce Affetto
7. Aria - Se Mi Dai Morte
8. Aria - Se Mai Senti
9. Aria - Vo Disperato A Morte
10. Aria - Sperai Vicino Il Lido
11. Recitativo - Ecco All'aure Superne - Aria - Mio Bel Nume, Ah! Dove Sei?
12. Aria - In Mirar La Mia Sventura

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5521 in Music
• Released on: 2007-11-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .24 pounds
• Running time: 72 minutes

Customer Reviews

Fantastic voice
Philippe Jaroussky truly has one of the finest countertenor voices around, and this is his first wander into some of the most tricky Baroque arias around. He tackles the most difficult, Handel's 'Scherza infida', with great expertise. I do wonder about some of the ornamentation he does the second time round, but his voice displays such a range of emotion it is still a fantastic recording. He takes on the Handel arias from Alcina very well, and reaches astronomical heights with what sounds like great ease in 'Sta nell'Ircana'. On the whole, a very well-judged performance, and a great showcase of his impressive range and coloratura. Emanuelle Haim and Le Concert d'Astree do very well, and generally the tempi are sound across the board

A golden voice for a diamond career
To follow the career of the castrato Carestini across and around Europe is no simple task. But it leads us to very different composers in many different towns and he will now be a ghost that will be known - and hopefully challenge - Farinelli - nearly - known as the only Italian castrato of his time. The choice of arias and excerpts is far reaching in styles, genres and musical characteristics and qualities. These castratos well full-fledged artists who had to be flexible and astonishingly innovative to keep their audience suspended to their singing lips. They were the first case of a long sickness that makes the opera thrive, the primo uomo that has become the prima donna. In this case the alto who plays the role is a perfect choice, THE perfect choice. Jaroussky is a man indeed but he has retained a certain childish tone in his voice, particularly of course in the upper stratum of the range of his singing. Yet he is able to go down to the rock-bottom of this range and then those notes are deeply cavernous and they reveal the full manly essence of the singer. He also has retained his childish playfulness when he flies over the scales, up and down, turning and tumbling at times like a spinning top in his vocalized antics. And Philippe Jaroussky even manages to trap us into believing some particularly high notes are coming from... and we hesitate... a child or a woman? We cannot know. A droplet of crystal in the tiara of the concert.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines