Farinelli: The Composer
Jorg Washchinski, male soprano
Salburger Hofmusik; Wolfgang Brunner, conductor
New Classical Adventure
“Farinelli the composer” is a fascinating release. CarloBroschi (AKA Farinelli) was – by all accounts – the greatest castrato opera singer of his
day, and perhaps of all time. But because Farinelli conquered the stage 200 hears before sound recording technology,
we only have contemporary descriptions of his voice to judge the extent of his
talent.
Fortunately, in addition to being a singer, Farinelli was also a
composer. Like many virtuosos of his day, he wrote music exclusively for his
own performances -- primarily arias. Baroque opera singers
were expected to improvise around the written score, and Farinelli was no
exception. Of course, such improvisations are ephemeral. But just as a Miles Davis composition can provide insight into his
improvisational style, so too does Farinelli’s arias give us a better idea of
what his voice was capable of, and how he was likely to improvise in performance.
The arias on this release are of great historical interest,
which is not to say they’re without compositional merit. Even though the orchestrations are run-of-the-mill, Farinelli was a better
than average composer with a real gift for melody (not surprisingly). The vocal lines he wrote for himself are full of unusual
twists, turns, and leaps that could trip up a lesser singer.
Sopranist Jorg Waschinski is more than equal to the task, and does an outstanding job with this
material. No matter how talented the countertenor, the range is always a little
more constrained than that of a true castrato. Nevertheless, Waschinski soars
through the upper register seemingly without effort, delivering a clear,
full-voiced sound.
If you’ve seen the movie “Farinelli” then you know of the
man’s reputation. But the voice you heard was a digital blend of different
singers. In this release you hear an actual singer delivering Farinelli’s
music to the best of his formidable ability. And the humanity of Waschinski's voice makes all the
difference.
Although we can never really know what Farinelli sounded
like, this recording of his music brings us a little bit closer. Highly recommended for anyone interested in
Baroque or Classical era opera.
Thirteen years without comment! And yet the author of this perseptive write-up has the recording weighed-up nicely. Both top-drawer.
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