Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

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The central question was always about how much needs to be added to the surviving notes in order to make Poppea viable on stage. Gardiner and his advisers believe that nothing needs adding and... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 1st Mar 1996
Catalogue No: 4470882
Label: DG Archiv
Length: 3 hours 10 minutes

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Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

Work length3:10:18

$35.60

$48.20

Marinella Pennicchi (soprano), Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Catherine Bott (soprano), Michael Chance (alto), Nigel Robson (tenor), Mark Tucker (tenor), Sylvia McNair (soprano), Dana Hanchard (soprano), Bernarda Fink (contralto), Roberto Balconi (alto), Francesco Ellero D'Artegna (bass), Constanze Backes (soprano), Julian Clarkson (bass), Noel Mann (bass)
English Baroque Soloists
Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Recorded: 1993-12
Recording Venue: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Sinfonia - Prologue - "Deh, nasconditi, o Virtù" ... (Fortuna, Virtù, Amore)

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E pur'io torno qui, qual linea al centro (Ottone)

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Chi parla? chi parla? (Soldato I, Ottone, Soldato II)

Track length3:36

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Signor, deh, non partire! (Poppea, Nerone)

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Speranza, tu mi vai (Poppea, Arnalta)

Track length6:45

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"Disprezzata regina"

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"Ottavia, Ottavia!"

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Ecco la sconsolata (Seneca, Ottavia)

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Madama, con tua pace (Valletta, Ottavia)

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Le porpore regali, e imperatrici (Seneca)

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Seneca, io miro in cielo infausti rai (Pallade, Seneca)

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Son risoluto insomma (Nerone, Seneca)

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Come dolci, Signor, come soavi (Poppea, Nerone)

Track length9:08

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Ad altri tocca in sorte (Ottone, Poppea)

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"Infelice garzone!" - "Otton, torna in te stesso" (Arnalta / Ottone)

Track length3:13

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Pur sempre di Poppea (Drusilla, Ottone)

Track length5:07

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Solitudine amata (Seneca, Mercurio)

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Il comando tiranno (Liberto, Seneca)

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"Amici, è giunta l'ora" - Non morir, Seneca, no!" - "Supprimete i singulti" (Seneca / Famigliari / Seneca)

Track length5:27

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Sento un certo non so che (Valletto, Damigella)

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Dunque amor così comincia? (Valletto, Damigella)

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Or che Seneca è morto (Nerone, Lucano)

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Son rubini amorosi (Nerone, Lucano)

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Tu che dagli avi miei (Ottavia, Ottone)

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"Felice cor mio" - "Nutrice, quanto pagheresti" - "Il Giorno femminil" (Drusilla / Valletto, Nutrice, Drusilla / Nutrice, Valletto)

Track length4:33

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Io non so dov'io vada (Ottone, Drusilla)

Track length5:33

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Or che Seneca è morto (Poppea, Arnalta)

Track length4:19

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Adagiati, Poppea - Oblivion soave (Arnalta)

Track length2:51

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Dorme, l'incauta dorme (Amore)

Track length2:34

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Eccomi trasformato (Ottone)

Track length3:15

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Forsennato, scellerato (Amore, Poppea, Arnalta)

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O felice Drusilla, o che sper'io? (Drusilla)

Track length1:26

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Ecco la scellerata (Arnalta, Littore, Drusilla)

Track length1:11

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Signor, ecco la rea (Arnalta, Nerone, Drusilla)

Track length5:38

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No, no, questa sentenza (Ottone, Drusilla, Nerone, Littore)

Track length5:49

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"Signor, oggi rinasco ai primi fiori" - "Non più s'interporrà noia o dimora" (Poppea, Nerone / Nerone, Poppea)

Track length5:38

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Oggi sarà Poppea (Arnalta)

Track length3:01

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A Dio, Roma! a Dio, patria! amici, a Dio! (Ottavia)

Track length4:28

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"Ascendi, o mia diletta" - "A te, sovrana augusta" (Nerone / Consoli, Tribuni)

Track length3:39

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Scendiam, scendiam (Amore, Coro d'Amori, Venere, Poppea, Nerone)

Track length7:56

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"Pur ti miro"

Track length4:11

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Reviews
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Reviews

2010

The central question was always about how much needs to be added to the surviving notes in order to make Poppea viable on stage. Gardiner and his advisers believe that nothing needs adding and that the 'orchestra' played only when explicitly notated in the score and was a very small group.
To some ears this will have a fairly ascetic effect, but it's firmly in line with current scholarly thinking.
To compensate, there's a rich group of continuo players who play with wonderful flexibility.
And Gardiner's spacious reading of the score bursts with the variety of pace you might expect from a seasoned conductor of early opera. Sylvia McNair is a gloriously sensuous Poppea: from her sleepy first words to the final duet she's always a thoroughly devious character, with her breathy, come-hither tones. Complementing this is Dana Hanchard's angry-brat Nerone, less even in voice than one might hope, but dramatically powerful nevertheless. Whether they quite challenge Helen Donath and Elisabeth Söderström for Harnoncourt is a matter of opinion, but they certainly offer a viable alternative.
The strongest performances here, though, come from Michael Chance and Anne Sofie von Otter as Ottone and Ottavia, both of them offering superbly rounded portrayals. Again they face severe challenges from Harnoncourt's unforgettable Paul Esswood and Cathy Berberian, but here the challenge is more equal. Francesco Ellero d'Artegna is perhaps the most vocally skilled Seneca to date.
The fact that this was recorded at a public concert is noticeable only occasionally.

2011 edition

a purposeful, strongly characterized performance...Sylvia McNair is a seductive Poppea and Anne Sofie von Otter a deeply moving Ottavia, both singing ravishingly...in the sensuous duet which closes the opera, the clashing intervals of the voices are given a degree of abrasiveness, suggesting that, though this is a happy and beautiful ending, the characters still have their sinister side.

Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

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