Bononcini, Lotti & Steffani: Se con stille frequenti. Duetti da camera Sara Mingardo, Cenacolo Musicale

• Agostino Steffani (1654-1728): Begl’occhi, oh Dio, non più:
• 1 Begl’occhi, oh Dio, non più 03:01
• 2 Clori mia, s’il cor t’ingombra 00:24
• 3 Per te, mia vita, moro 01:36
• 4 Se la tua gelosia 01:08
• 5 Clori mia, deh, ferma alquanto 02:55
• Antonio Lotti (1666-1740): Duetti, terzetti e madrigali a più voci "Crudeltà rimproverata":
• 6 Se con stille frequenti 03:34
• 7 Solo il cor di Mirtilla 01:15
• 8 Poi che fiera e crudel sempre egualmente 02:04
• Agostino Steffani: Ribellatevi, o pensieri:
• 9 Ribellatevi, o pensieri 02:23
• 10 Se perdei per infida bellezza / Di schernirmi hai finito, Cupido 02:35
• Antonio Lotti: Duetti, terzetti e madrigali a più voci "Querela amorosa":
• 11 Ben dovrei, occhi leggiadri 02:47
• 12 E scordandomi il mio duolo (Adagio) 01:12
• 13 E non posso col mirarvi (Allegro - Adagio) 01:35
• Francesco Lucio (1628-1658): Arie a voce sola, Libro Primo:
• 14 Fuggi pur, o crudele 03:28
• Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747): Duetti da camera, Op. 8 "Sempre piango, e dir non sò":
• 15 Sempre piango / Sempre rido 04:19
• 16 Recitativo "No, restane in pace" 00:26
• 17 Aria "Non sei più l’idolo moi" 02:45
• 18 Recitativo "Cintia ingrata e crudele" 00:51
• 19 Aria "Al bel dardo d’un tuo sguardo" 02:44
• 20 Recitativo "Sono questi del cor gl'ultimi fiati" / Aria "Ché languendo / Ché ingannando" 02:27
• 21 Aria "Chi d’amor tra le catene" 03:01
• 22 Aria "Bella sì ma crudel / Vago sì ma infedel" 02:46
• 23 Recitativo "Ma dì, perché con ingiuste querele" / Aria "Non ha il mondo" 01:41
• 24 Recitativo "Sei tu fido, mio ben?" / Aria "Con novi e dolci modi" 01:00
• 25 Aria "Amore è quel bambin" / Aria "Col volto suo divino" 01:31
• 26 Recitativo "Ceda dunque ogni petto" / Aria "Non conosce piacer" 03:10
• Agostino Steffani: Testimonianza di Fede "Ho scherzato in verità":
• 27 Ho scherzato in verità 01:12
• 28 Sai ben tu, caro tesoro 02:24
• 29 Sai ben tu che non poss’io 02:26
• Total Runtime 01:02:40

Info for Bononcini, Lotti & Steffani: Se con stille frequenti. Duetti da camera

In the Baroque period, the duetto da camera, usually conceived for two equal voices and continuo, was an important form of vocal chamber music, of which innumerable examples are found in the works of composers associated with Venice, the leading protagonist in the history of this genre.

Venetian Sara Mingardo is joined by a large group of young, talented solo female voices (Silva Frigato, Lea Desandre…) in this amazing project, where masterpieces by the leading composers of the time have been entrusted to the voices best suited to highlight the respective particular musical content.

Included in this recording are several previously unpublished and unperformed works, which have been newly transcribed and edited by the harpsichordist Edward Smith. At the heart of the programme, Sara Mingardo leaves her colleagues for a moment to appear as soloist in Fuggi pur, o crudele by Francesco Lucio, a splendid and typical lamento recorded here for the first time and destined to become a big hit.

Sara Mingardo, contralto
Cenacolo Musicale

Sara Mingardo
Italian singer Sara Mingardo is considered among the more important contraltos of her generation. Her repertory is broad, encompassing works by composers from Monteverdi to Britten, though she has scored some of her greatest successes in operas and sacred music of the Baroque. Mingardo was born in the Venetian suburb of Mestre. Though she displayed musical talent early on, she did not develop quickly: after studies in Venice at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory and in Siena at the Academia Chigiana, she made her official operatic debut in Italy only in 1987, in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto, singing Fidalma. Following that success she sang Cinderella in the eponymous Rossini opera, in Treviso and Rovigo, in 1988. It was in that Treviso effort that she won first prize in the annual Toti Dal Monte competition. Her other competition successes include the Giulietta Simionato Prize at the 23rd Vienna Competition. While most of Mingardo's appearances up to 1989 were at second-tier operatic venues, she began making her breakthrough at the major sites in Italy thereafter, including La Scala and San Carlo. In 1995 she made her first recording (on Polygram Records), singing the title character in Handel's Riccardo Primo, led by Christophe Rousset. This followed her official international debut in that role, in Fontevraud, France. She reprised this same role later on at the International Festival of Baroque Music in Bonn and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. After that 1995 French debut, she appeared regularly at numerous other major international locales: under Claudio Abbado, she sang Emilia in Verdi's Otello at the 1996 Salzburg Festival. Her U.S. debut was at the 2000 Santa Fe Opera Festival production of Rossini's Ermione, where she sang Anromaca. Mingardo has developed a strong international following over the years and has thus been in demand on recordings. Two solo albums appeared in 2003 and 2004, respectively, on the Opus III label. The first, titled Sara Mingardo, featured works by Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, and Handel, and the second, works by Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel, and others. Other recordings include Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Vivaldi's Stabat Mater and Armida, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, and Verdi's Falstaff. Her 2002 recording of Berlioz's Les Troyens won a Gramophone Award and Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording and Best Classical Album.

Sara Mingardo (born 2 March 1961) is an Italian classical contralto who has had an active international career in concerts and operas since the 1980s. Her complete recording of Anna in Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens won a Gramophone Award and both the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording and the Grammy Award for Best Classical Album in 2002. Some of the other roles she has performed on stage or on disc include Andronico in Tamerlano, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, and the title roles in Carmen, Giulio Cesare, Riccardo Primo, and Rinaldo. She has also recorded several Vivaldi cantatas, Bach cantatas, and such concert works as Mozart's Requiem, Rossini's Stabat Mater, and Vivaldi's Gloria among others.

Booklet for Bononcini, Lotti & Steffani: Se con stille frequenti. Duetti da camera