Karim Sulayman, Apollo’s Fire, Jeannette Sorrell – Songs of Orpheus (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Karim Sulayman, Apollo’s Fire, Jeannette Sorrell – Songs of Orpheus (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:19 minutes | 1,23 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Avie Records

Karim Sulayman is a Lebanese-American tenor pays tribute to his favorite myth ” Orpheus” on this debut album. He brings to life Orpheus’s character through his sensitivity to dynamics and emotional delivery of this beautifully composed music. Sulayman is accompanied by leading baroque interpreters Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire.

The American tenor Karim Sulayman, of Lebanese background, has previously been heard on recordings with the Cleveland-based historical-performance group Apollo’s Fire. He is backed by members of that group here in his solo debut, with the larger Apollo’s Fire heard on the instrumental sonatas distributed through the program. Those point to the real strength of this release. Sulayman has a wonderfully resonant voice, and he contributes, in his singing and in an elegant note, a sense of personal involvement with the story of Orpheus, mythology’s most famous vocalist. A collection of 17th century pieces related to Orpheus, a story intimately entwined with the development of opera, was a good idea in itself, but where Sulayman really excels is in forging a little “I love you to hell and back” narrative to tie together these pieces by Monteverdi, Giulio Caccini, Dario Castello, Giovanni Paulo Cima, Sigismondo d’India, Stefano Landi, Antonio Brunelli, and Tarquinio Merula. Some of the instrumental sonatas are quite unusual, and all relate vividly to the stage of the story under discussion. Sample Castello’s Sonata No. 2 in D minor, proceeding into Sulayman’s rendition of Tu se’ morta from Orfeo. (An audience of the 17th century, one suspects, would have loved both the idea and its execution by Sulayman, who manages to produce a big yet intimate sound. The engineering loses some of that intimacy; the suburban Cleveland church where the music was recorded is wrong for the repertory. But this a fine early Baroque vocal release from the American Midwest, where early music is still not a terribly common find.

Tracklist:
1-01. Karim Sulayman – Quarto scherzo
delle ariose vaghezze, 1624: Si dolce è ‘l tormento (03:35)
1-02. Karim Sulayman – L’Orfeo, SV 318: Vi ricorda o bosch’ ombrosi (02:32)
1-03. Karim Sulayman – L’Orfeo, SV 318: Rosa del ciel (02:31)
1-04. Karim Sulayman – Le nuove musiche, 1602: Dolcissimo sospiro (02:55)
1-05. Apollo’s Fire – Sonate concertate in stil moderno, Libro II, 1629: Sonata No. 2 in D Minor (05:28)
1-06. Karim Sulayman – L’Orfeo, SV 318: Tu se’ morta-Sinfonia (04:04)
1-07. Karim Sulayman – L’Euridice: Funeste piaggie (04:39)
1-08. Apollo’s Fire – Sonata No. 1 in G Minor for Violin & Continuo (04:56)
1-09. Karim Sulayman – L’Orfeo, SV 318: Qual honor di te sia degno-Sinfonia (05:00)
1-10. Apollo’s Fire – Sonata concertata XV, a Quattro voci (05:04)
1-11. Karim Sulayman – Le musiche da cantar solo, Milan 1609: Piangono al pianger mio (04:47)
1-12. Karim Sulayman – Quinto libro di arie da cantarsi ad una voce, 1637: Canta la cicaletta (04:37)
1-13. Karim Sulayman – Secondo libro di arie
da cantarsi ad una voce, 1627: T’amai gran tempo (06:22)
1-14. Karim Sulayman – Arie, scherzi, canzonette e madrigali a cantare e suonare, 1613: Non havea Febo ancora (02:43)
1-15. Karim Sulayman – Curtio precipitato et altri capricii,1638: Folle è ben che si crede (03:58)

Personnel:
Karim Sulayman – tenor
Apollo’s Fire – Directed by Jeannette Sorrell

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