The baroque-loving public left the Palau de la Música Catalana this Tuesday, impressed and exultant, after having entertained the French ensemble Les Accents with seven minutes of applause after their Spanish debut with Händel’s opera Rinaldo. Until now, neither in Madrid nor in Barcelona had it been possible to hear this orchestra founded a decade ago by the violinist Thibault Noally, who in turn is concertmaster of Les Musiciens du Prince, with Cecila Bartoli at the helm, and has been for fifteen years. from Les Musiciens du Louvre.
The French master concluded a tour in the modernist hall that has taken him through Paris, Madrid and Barcelona equipped with a cast of solo voices that took the hiccups. Because, although the only notable name was that of the Hungarian diva Emöke Baráth, the presence of Carlo Vistoli in a leading role like that of this Händel title, the one that had the greatest success during the composer’s lifetime, has been greatly celebrated.
The 36-year-old Italian countertenor, who could be seen in the past at the Palau performing Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, has shown fabulous expressiveness and a florid coloratura of generous flexibility in Rinaldo. The audience at the Palau witnessed the emergence of another of the artists who emerged from Le Jardin des Voix, the academy for young professionals of Les Arts Florissants. Vistoli is now called to be part of the great constellation of countertenors of the moment, along with the Fagioli, Dumaux, Jaroussky or Sabata himself.
His voice (and his attitude) matched perfectly with that of his partner, Chiara Skerath, whose voice was both timbred and sensitive. With her spectacular technique, the Swiss soprano transported the audience in the very notorious aria “Laschia ch’io pianga” that her character sings lamenting not being able to be with her love.
Composed in 1711, this is the opera with which Händel appeared for the first time before the London public, which is why it is such an accomplished title and with an endless number of beautiful arias and duets. The English had to be dazzled! The plot is based on the epic poem Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso and tells an episode of the Crusades in which the Christian warrior Rinaldo liberates Zion from the Jews and Muslims.
And he does it in his free time, because he is very busy falling in love with Almirena (Skerath), the daughter of his boss Godfrey, and avoiding the insistent Arab sorceress Armida (Baráth), who has fallen in love with him and loves him at all costs. . “You who stole the calm of my heart, do you now deny me a single look?” He even pretends to be the innocent and beautiful Almirena… Sion complains to him but Rinaldo only thinks of his beloved.
The dramatic intensity achieved by the protagonist couple was more than supported by the rest of the cast: the mezzo Lucile Richardot, the contralto Anthea Pichanick and the baritone Victor Sicard, in the role of Argante (the Arab king of Jerusalem). At the same time, the baroque orchestra, directed from the violin by Noally, managed to maintain the baroque tension – with historicist criteria – in Handel’s most popular opera for three hours.
With this title the Palau Òpera cycle begins, which this season includes two more titles in concert version: L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, which will be offered by The English Concert and the Cor de Cambra del Palau on March 16 (with soprano Jeanine De Bique ), and Tolomeo by Händel with the original instrumentation from London of 1730, by the Kammerorchester Basel and Il Giardino Armonico by Giovanni Antonini, with the Argentine countertenor Franco Fagioli.
