Description

Northern Europe proved to be a fertile ground for opera. Memorable historical figures from the North turned out to be good subjects, and during the Baroque period many masterpieces were produced by composers hailing from those parts. Handel and Bach immediately spring to mind, of course, but we must not forget Heinichen, Schürmann and Keiser, as well as Telemann, whose operatic compositions, though brilliant, are so rarely performed. Many of them portrayed monarchs, terrible or majestic, in their operatic works and, unlike their southern colleagues, they did not hesitate to entrust those parts to the low tessituras.

Here the baritone Tomas Kral, who has been performing to great acclaim on the international stage for several years now, takes on many different roles with greatest of ease, depicting now the torment of a remorseful Nero (“Ach! Nero ist nicht Nero mehr!... Erstaune, sichrer Kreis der Welt”, from Reinhard Keiser’s Octavia), now the despair of Sigebert (“Ich muss schweigend von dir gehen”, from the same composer’s Fredegunda) or the ridiculous fatuity of Telemann’s imaginary tyrant, Damon (“Ihr krachenden Klüfte...”, from Die Satyren in Arcadien). Including not only famous arias from the repertoire (Rodelinda, Almira, Riccardo Primo ...) but also little-known gems, the young baritone and the musicians of the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra present a recital that is truly first-rate!