Philippe Jaroussky, generally recognized as one of the world's finest practitioners of the countertenor's vocal art, has felt free to expand his repertory into the Classical era and even into such novelties as the French mélodie. The mid-Baroque, however, remains his sweet spot, and with La vanità del mondo, he both returns to his comfort zone and undertakes something new. All of the music here comes from the years on either side of 1700, where Jaroussky almost effortlessly shines, but he has never before devoted an entire ...
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Philippe Jaroussky, generally recognized as one of the world's finest practitioners of the countertenor's vocal art, has felt free to expand his repertory into the Classical era and even into such novelties as the French mélodie. The mid-Baroque, however, remains his sweet spot, and with La vanità del mondo, he both returns to his comfort zone and undertakes something new. All of the music here comes from the years on either side of 1700, where Jaroussky almost effortlessly shines, but he has never before devoted an entire album to the Italian oratorio, a largely neglected genre that has many treasures to yield. Consider the aria from the oratorio that gives the album its title, La vanità del mondo, by the all-but-unknown composer Pietro Torri, who worked in southern Germany and whose music was, from time to time, mistaken for Bach's. It offers Jaroussky plenty of opportunities for fireworks, but it also demands something new from him; the philosophical quality of the text demands that he tone down the...
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