L’Olimpiade – The Opera
Romina Basso; Franziska Gottwald;
Karina Gauvin; Nicholas Phan;
Ruth Rosique; Nicholas Spanos; Venice Baroque Orchestra; Markellos Chryssicos
NaïveV 5295
This recording is cheeky and timely. L’Olimpiade was yet another Metastasio libretto (like La Clemenza di Tito) set many times by various composers to gain applause with a new version of a well-known text. The plot centres around the prize of a king’s daughter at the Olympic games, and in this release a bunch of arias were jumbled together from the earliest setting by Caldara in 1733 to Torchi in 1792, in time to coincide with the upcoming Olympics in London. So far, so fun! The voices range from excellent to adequate. Excellent are Karina Gauvin as Argene, Ruth Rosique as Aristea, Romina Basso as the athletic Megacle who competes disguised as his friend Licida (Franziska Gottwald). Nowadays it’s steroids; back then evidently the latest scandal was impersonation!
The problem is the definition of “pasticcio” which is what this concert is called. The notes are by the Oxford Professor of Music, Reinhard Strohm who translates this word as “patchwork.” The word describes a pastry or pie containing various fillings held together by the blending of tastes — and in opera, the recitative. As with culinary art, there can be good and bad taste. Do it badly and you get the Met’s Enchanted Island or the earlier Opera Immaginaria.
This new effort is a delightful assortment, but no decent director would have yoked together such a disparate selection. Even amongst the composers selected (including neither J.C. Bach nor Beethoven) one of the most famous arias of the period, Superba di me stessa by Lampugnani, is omitted for a mediocre setting by Hasse. But since this is pleasant summer listening and the singers ornament well, it gives a lot of pleasure.
You could turn off the TV volume, and turn up the sound for these CDs. I’m afraid the inevitable next step will be a staging of L’Olimpiade with naked counter tenors, but I had better not say that too loud. “Propriety” is a word like “pasticcio” that seems to have fallen into disrepute.
