Vivaldi: Farnace.

* Mingardo, Fernandez, Prina, Banditelli, Forte; Zanasi, Bettini; Le Concert des Nations, Savall. Text and translations. Alia Vox AV 9822 A/C (Harmonia Mundi, dist.)

The fact that Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) is recognized today largely on the strength of his instrumental music seems strange, considering his success as an opera composer in the early-eighteenth century. By his own reckoning, Vivaldi composed ninety-four operas, though only a couple of dozen survive (more or less complete) in manuscript. Marilyn Horne caused a blip on the opera radar screen when she sang the title role in Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso more than two decades ago. In recent years, Cecilia Bartoli has brought attention to the composer with a lovely disc of arias (Decca 466569). It should be noted that both champions of Vivaldi are mezzos; Vivaldi traveled widely, and gossip-stirringly, with the contralto diva Anna Giro, who also sang in the premieres of many of his works. Farnace (1727) has three juicy mezzo roles, and as luck would have it, Italy seems to be turning out superb singers in this vocal category at the moment.

The plot hinges on the usual elements of mid-eighteenth-century serious opera: a cast of royal personages who act in less-than-noble ways in reaction to trying circumstances, then an act of clemency at the end that makes all right and restores the social order. In getting there, Farnace includes several intriguing and substantial subplots. Tamiri, the wife of Farnace, is required to kill herself and her son in order not to fall into enemy hands, an obligation she spends the duration of the drama not fulfilling. This results in further plot twists. Selinda, Farnace's sister, seduces two rival generals to help her brother's cause. And much of the musical action hinges on the hatred of Berenice, Tamiri's mother, for her son-in-law. The rival side is represented by Pompey, Farnace's Roman rival, and his two generals, Gilades and Aquilius.

Vivaldi realizes these plots in sequences of recitatives and da capo arias, with very occasional but expressive accompanied recitatives as well. The arias are accompanied almost exclusively by strings, with occasional enforcement from the winds. The only relief from this palette is provided by one duet, one quartet, and the inclusion in this performance of several instrumental and vocal pieces from the Farnace (1739) of the later composer Francesco Corselli (c. 1702-78), which are added as prologue material to the Vivaldi opera's three acts. The Corselli music exhibits greater range of harmony and instrumental coloration than does Vivaldi's. In fact, despite superbly moving work from several of the singers and a few on-the-mark arias, three discs of Vivaldi opera are a lot to handle, largely due to the composer's limited compositional process. Long stretches of his arias are sung over a pedal ...