Franz Hauk and the Simon Mayr Chorus and Ensemble have spear headed the revival of the music of Johann Simon Mayr who was born in Bavaria but lived in Italy. In the latest instalment of their critically acclaimed recordings they turn to Il sogno di Partenope, an allegorical staged cantata composed to mark the rebuilding of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples following a fire in February 1816.
Mayr’s significance as an intermediary between the opera seria of the late eighteenth-century and the melodrama of the early-nineteenth is reflected in this important work, a unique kind of ‘cantata opera’ of which only the second act survives.
The singing of the chorus is excellent throughout; the orchestra likewise. I have nothing but praise for the soloists with an extra laurel to Andrea Lauren Brown’a Partenope and Cornel Frey’s expressive Mercurio. While I still regret tht the work is incomplete, there is a lot of excellent music on offer in this world premiere recording.
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