This recording of Orfeo by performers from the Massachusetts-based Aston Magna Festival has many things to recommend it. Primary among its virtues is the dramatic urgency of the performance. The protagonist's dilemma is presented with heartbreaking poignancy; characteristic is the intensity of the Messenger's announcement of the news of Eurydice's death, which is delivered and received with stricken anguish. The singers are consistently fine -- there are no weak links in the cast. Frank Kelley's Orfeo is sweet-toned and ...
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This recording of Orfeo by performers from the Massachusetts-based Aston Magna Festival has many things to recommend it. Primary among its virtues is the dramatic urgency of the performance. The protagonist's dilemma is presented with heartbreaking poignancy; characteristic is the intensity of the Messenger's announcement of the news of Eurydice's death, which is delivered and received with stricken anguish. The singers are consistently fine -- there are no weak links in the cast. Frank Kelley's Orfeo is sweet-toned and persuasive, even though his coloratura in parts of "Possente spirto" is a little tentative. Soprano Laurie Monahan makes an especially strong impression, as do Roberta Anderson, Deborah Rentz-Moore, Sharon Baker, David Ripley, and Robert Honeysucker. Daniel Stepner leads the ensemble in a colorful and well-paced performance, and the variety of accompaniments for the recitatives is especially inventive. The ornamentation throughout is lively and appropriate. The recording's weaknesses...
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