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Max Cencic, Yuri Minienko, Valer Sabadus, Xavier Sabata, Vince Yi, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou – The 5 Countertenors (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:45 minutes | 1,16 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
‘The 5 Countertenors’ draws together five of the world’s most renowned countertenors, who bring the rich world of baroque opera to life.
Described in their heyday as “beyond all creatures upon earth.” (William Congreve, 1700), countertenors are once again firmly established on concert platforms, opera stages, the covers of music magazines – and the subjects of heated on-line debate and of fan-pages on social media.
These world-class performers showcase the expressive variety of this unique genre. This album also celebrates the individuality of each singer’s voice and in turn the art of the countertenor. The countertenors are accompanied by the brilliant, ECHO-Klassik winning baroque group, Armonia Atenea, under George Petrou.
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Max Cencic, Armonia Atenea & George Petrou – Rokoko: Hasse Opera Arias (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:23 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Launching his new recording contract with Decca Classics, critically-acclaimed countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic performs arias from the finest of Hasse’s dramatic works. From the exquisite delicacy of the aria di sostenuto to the fiery passion of the aria di bravura, Cencic’s sensational performance brings Hasse’s greatest works to a new audience, brilliantly fresh and with maximum effect.
Rokoko follows on from Cencic’s incredibly well received Alessandro on Decca Classics. Critics from the world’s leading press recognised the album’s outstanding qualities: Gramophone described it as “an essential purchase”; Opera News observed that Cencic “commands the music totally”, while Diapason awarded it Diapason de l’or de l’année and it also won recognition in the International Opera Awards in London
For this new recording Cencic is accompanied by the superb Armonia Atenea under their internationally-renowned conductor George Petrou.
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Juan Sancho, Franco Fagioli, Max Cencic, Valer Sabadus, Martin Mitterrutzner, Vince Yi, Il Pomo d’Oro, Riccardo Minasi – Vinci, Leonardo: Catone in Utica (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 03:53:56 minutes | 4,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
World premiere recording of an opera by a Neapolitan master fast gaining a first-rate modern reputation. Max Emanuel Cencic gathers around him an intoxicating mix of stratospheric countertenors, a top tenor, and an orchestra who sizzle with excitement for a performance of an opera that will appeal to all fans of Baroque music’s unsung heroes.
As March’s ‘Five Countertenors’ album showcased, the age of the countertenor is here. Max Emanuel Cencic has gathered around him, once again, a superb cast to bring Vinci’s “Catone In Utica” to vivid life.
“Vinci is the Lully of Italy: true, simple, natural, expressive”- for generations Leonardo Vinci was just another obscure Baroque composer: this first-rate recording will lift the veil from this forgotten genius of Italian opera, and from the mysterious all-male world of the 18th-century Roman stage.
With a libretto by Metastasio, Vinci’s opera was unveiled in Rome in 1728 with an all-male cast (women having been banned from the stage by the Pope): countertenors took the three heroic male roles as well as the female parts.
As well as Cencic (Arbace), the other superb countertenors are Franco Fagioli (Cesare), Valer Sabadus (Marzia), and Vince Yi (Emilia). Tenor Juan Sancho takes the title role (Catone) in this stage work about Julius Caesar’s defeat of the Republican forces led by Marcus Portius Cato in 46BC, and Riccardo Minasi, who enjoys a considerable reputation for his recordings of Baroque repertoire, conducts.
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Max Cencic, Il Pomo d’Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev – Arie Napoletane: Max Emanuel Cencic (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:15:29 minutes | 1,38 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
This is clearly a treasure trove of forgotten opera arias . . . an accomplishment that seems near effortless. Blurring the traditional gender stereotype his androgynous tone adds invigorating and adventurous elements to these focused and impeccably controlled performances — so full of life. There is a striking purity to the counter-tenor’s dusky timbre together with a steadfast technique . . . The quality of each aria is consistently high and I have selected several highlights. Praiseworthy is Porpora’s quick and exciting “Quel vasto, quel fiero” from “Polifemo”. Cencic in decisive form as the heroic Ulysses demonstrates his aptitude for the technical challenges. In the title role the tender and affecting love song “Dal suo gentil sembiante” from Leo’s “Demetrio” is an excellent example of Cencic’s lovely smooth line with some modest ornamentation and a gloriously fluid glide to his high registers . . . There’s a vivid presence to the sonics of this satisfyingly balanced and admirably presented recording. Lovers of Late-Baroque opera and the counter-tenor voice will be in their element. Those new to this repertoire need not hesitate. Max Emanuel Cencic is in magnificent form with these high quality, yet inexplicably forgotten, arias.
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