Orliński’s New Album of Baroque Opera Arias

from the Amazon.com Web page for the recording being discussed

This Friday Erato will release its second solo album of countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński. The title of the album is Facce d’amore (faces of love). Its eighteen tracks cover compositions by eleven Baroque composers. Five of those tracks are world premiere recordings. The accompanying ensemble is Il Pomo d’Oro, conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev. As may be expected, Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders.

Countertenors seem to be in fashion these days, leading me to wonder whether those interested in early music may be laboring under too much of a good thing. Here in San Francisco we have more than ample opportunity to listen to fine countertenor performances, the most recent of which took place this past weekend. In that context I have to say that, by virtue of those opportunities, I am not particularly drawn to these new albums, even when they present music never before recorded. Indeed, if there is a lesson to be learned from listening to Facce d’amore it is that the operas of Handel tend to be the best candidates for full-length revivals with good reason. In any event I find that I take more satisfaction in listening to an aria in its dramatic context, rather than as part of an arias-only album.