Max Emanuel Cencic - Rossini: Opera Arias & Overtures - Erato: 3857882 - download

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If countertenors can sing Handel, why not Rossini? Among the many fine singers Rossini heard during his student days in Bologna, two were especially important: the castrato Giovan Battista Velluti... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 3rd Sep 2007
Catalogue No: 3857882
Label: Erato
Length: 73 minutes

Excerpt, Rossini: Tancredi

Work length8:04

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Max Emanuel Cencic/Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Michael Hofstetter, Max Emanuel Cenčić (countertenor)
Orchestre de Chambre de Genève
Michael Hofstetter
Recorded: 2006-10-01
Recording Venue: Studio Ansermet, Geneve, 1 Oct - 27 Nov 2006

Oh patria! Dolce e ingrate patria Tancredi

Track length8:04

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Excerpt, Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira

Work length13:29

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$2.60

Max Emanuel Cencic/Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Michael Hofstetter, Max Emanuel Cenčić (countertenor)
Orchestre de Chambre de Genève
Michael Hofstetter
Recorded: 2006-10-01
Recording Venue: Studio Ansermet, Geneve, 1 Oct - 27 Nov 2006

Perche mai le luci apprimo Arsace

Track length6:28

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Overture

Track length7:01

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Excerpt, Rossini: Tancredi

Work length5:41

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Max Emanuel Cencic/Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Michael Hofstetter
Orchestre de Chambre de Genève
Michael Hofstetter
Recorded: 2006-10-01
Recording Venue: Studio Ansermet, Geneve, 1 Oct - 27 Nov 2006

Overture

Track length5:41

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Excerpt, Rossini: La donna del lago

Work length13:39

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Max Emanuel Cencic/Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Michael Hofstetter, Max Emanuel Cenčić (countertenor)
Orchestre de Chambre de Genève
Michael Hofstetter
Recorded: 2006-10-01
Recording Venue: Studio Ansermet, Geneve, 1 Oct - 27 Nov 2006

Mura felici Malcolm

Track length9:15

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Quelle spietate...Ah di pera Malcolm

Track length4:24

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Excerpt, Rossini: Semiramide

Work length32:13

Album only

Max Emanuel Cencic/Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Michael Hofstetter, Max Emanuel Cencic/Choeur 'Le Motet'/Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Michael Hofstetter, Le Motet de Genève (vocal ensemble), Max Emanuel Cenčić (countertenor)
Orchestre de Chambre de Genève
Michael Hofstetter
Recorded: 2006-10-01
Recording Venue: Studio Ansermet, Geneve, 1 Oct - 27 Nov 2006

Overture

Track length11:36

Album only

Eccomi alfine in Babilonia...Ah, quel giorno Arsace

Track length11:09

Album only

In si barbara sciagura* Arsace / Coro

Track length9:28

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Reviews
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Reviews

2010

If countertenors can sing Handel, why not Rossini? Among the many fine singers Rossini heard during his student days in Bologna, two were especially important: the castrato Giovan Battista Velluti and the young Spanish soprano Isabella Colbran. Hearing both on the same stage must have been an astonishing experience: the old order of the castrati, doomed to extinction, side by side with the new order of singing actresses whose brilliantly developed coloratura techniques were in some sense a bequest from the castrati. Purity of tone, flexibility of technique and a 'profoundly penetrating accent' were what most impressed Rossini about the castrati. It was a different sound from that of the modern countertenor but the stylistic principles are not a hundred miles removed.
The singing of Viennese countertenor Max Emmanuel Cencic is distinguished by good rhythm, crisp divisions and clear, expressive word use. The range these roles require sits comfortably on his voice. The G below the stave is rounded and full, the two octaves beyond are clear and bright, albeit with a marked vibrato in places. Cencic's musicianship is generally impeccable: a tribute to the values instilled in him during his time in the Vienna Boys' Choir which he left in 1992, nine years before his decision to 're-create' himself as a countertenor.
Rossini created one operatic role for Velluti, in Aureliano in Palmira. Having antagonised the company with his self-regarding antics, Velluti is said to have made next to no impact onstage.
Cencic does not disappoint in the opera's celebrated pastoral plaint or in Tancredi's cabaletta 'Di tanti palpiti'. However, it is the scene from Act 2 of Semiramide which provides the recital's high-point. Hamlet-like, Arsace recognises his mother's guilt (in an expressive transition finely realised by Cencic) alongside his duty to avenge his father's death, as music familiar from the overture anticipates the crises to come.
With three overtures, Cencic's contributions add up to just 49 minutes. Short measure, you might think, but more than enough to give one a sense of what a talented countertenor can bring to Rossini.

May 2014

The countertenor voice might not strike everyone as the most obvious vehicle for Rossini - but...Cencic offers some of the most scintillating accounts of these arias I've ever come across...fingers crossed he sings some of them on stage at some point!

Max Emanuel Cencic - Rossini: Opera Arias & Overtures

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