BaL 28.04.12 Vivaldi's Operas

[Caliban]

It isn't an opera, but do try to hear Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans. That has great richness and variety of invention.

Yes, JS, I own that and have listened quite a bit to it over the years. Some really lovely stuff, but I find it... thin, somehow... I get tired of its style quite quickly.

By 'lacking depth' I mean that the music tends to be decorative rather than anything else. Handel seems to me to express some emotional or psychological states in ways Vivaldi never gets near. That's what I mean when I say Handel's music has greater 'depth'

[John Skelton]

Vivaldi does have a very distinctive style and I suppose it comes down to that: I do find it attractive and self-sufficient (I don't feel the lack of anything that might be elsewhere). But as I said, I'm not so keen on Handel (at least his London music).

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i enjoyed the programm excellent from under the duvet on a wet Saturday morning .... the one piece i really would die for the details were not given after the extract was played . i believe it was Fabio Biondi but am unsure, the soprano sounded as if she had been recorded in a studio with some echo applied rather than a natural or stage setting, the orchestration was slight but it was beautifully sung .... can any one identify the piece and performers please?

[aeolium]

Well, I love most of the music of Handel I know, especially the music he wrote in London, and I don't know how music sounds too pleased with itself, but that's just me