Intermezzo

Orlando furioso at the Barbican

Orlando furioso (concert performance) - Barbican, 27 March 2011

Nurtured by recently-departed general manager Dominique Meyer (now installed at the rather grander Vienna State Opera), baroque opera has flourished in recent years at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. Earlier this month, a Pierre Audi production of Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso premiered there to acclaim. Its bedrock was Jean-Christophe Spinosi's Ensemble Matheus and most of the cast he first brought together for his benchmark 2005 recording and later toured to the Edinburgh Festival and beyond.

Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso in Edinburgh

Orlando Furioso (concert performance) - Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 12 August 2007
Edinburgh International Festival

Veronica Cangemi (Angelica) and Jennifer Larmore (Alcina)

This splendid concert performance sparkled like the glitter sprinkled liberally on the singers' cleavages, and, more enigmatically, all over conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi's coat. Rarely has anything three hundred years old sounded quite so lively.

Spinosi really loves this music, and it shows. Bright and shiny as a tube of smarties, subtlety took something of a back seat as Spinosi cracked his team along at breakneck speed. Rather than being blunt or disrespectful, this seemed to me a sensible response to the muddled libretto and flawed dramaturgy (which I can never quite work out no matter how many synopses I read). He even leapt down from the podium at one point to grab the leader's violin for a couple of bars takeover.

And what a great cast. With the extended vocal gymnastics of Vivaldi's writing, it was inevitable a few notes would go awry, but rather than detracting, it actually added to the tremendous spontaneity.

Sonia Prina's Bertarido from the the Barbican's Rodelinda a couple of years back has remained lodged in my mind, and tonight as Orlando she gave an even more memorable performance, investing even the sparest lengths of secco recitative with passion and drama, and planting every note of her tricksy coloratura warmly and securely. As a very late sub for Marie-Nicole Lemieux in this demanding role, she deserves even more credit.

Veronica Cangemi as Angelica and Jennifer Larmore as Alcina added presence and experience to the mix - both perform on Spinosi's excellent 2005 recording. Philippe Jaroussky's sweet unforced countertenor as Ruggiero was another highlight, as was Christian Senn's effortlessly acrobatic Astolfo. But really, all the soloists were outstanding. And not to forget flautist Alison Mitchell's exquisite solo which concluded the first act.

The performance was recorded, and the programme claims it will be broadcast on Radio 3 on 22 September.

Sonia Prina applauds leader Christopher George with Jean-Christophe Spinosi: