Tormento d’Amore (CD) – Ian Bostridge

Composers: Various
Artists: Ian Bostridge, Cappella Neapolitana
Conductor: Antonio Florio
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Warner Classics
Release Date: December 11, 2021

With the ten arias on Tormento d’Amore, Ian Bostridge demonstrates the important place that the tenor voice held in Italian opera from the mid-17th to the mid-18th century – often thought of as the era of the castrato. During this time, there were two main centers of opera in Italy: Venice, where such composers as Cavalli, Vivaldi, Cesti, Stradella, Sartorio and Legrenzi were active, and Naples, home to Provenzale, Caresana, Vinci and Fago. 

In addition to arias – two of them in world premiere recordings – the album offers five instrumental sinfonie and a traditional Neapolitan song, “Lu cardillo” (“The Goldfinch”), a songbird closely associated with Naples. Bostridge is partnered by conductor Antonio Florio and his ensemble, Cappella Neapolitana.

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