L'Orfeo

"Like all self-respecting Orfeo's Toro of course sings Monteverdi's heavily ornamented version and needless to say sings it well, though he does tend to skate over some of the very dense, fast moving passaggi. It is in fact perhaps the major weakness of the set that none of the singers is totally satisfying in respect of ornamentation ... Were it not for the lack of ornamentation this might have become my favourite version, but it is an important flaw".

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"I cannot recommend this performance enough and although there are several others to be much enjoyed, this new one should become a classic in due course".

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"The playing is excellent in all cases ... The singing is also on a generally high level. Luciana Mancini, who doubles as La Musica and Euridice, sings beautifully ... Among the meatier roles, Salvo Vitale is authoritative and darkly expressive ... and Furio Zanasi, a one-time Orfeo himself, is a worthy Apollo ... Possibly the best singing on this recording is delivered by Marianne Beate Kielland as Speranza ... such beauty of tone, such warmth of feeling! She returns in Act IV as a touching Proserpine - marvellous singing indeed! Last but not least: Orfeo himself. Mark Mauillon ... Here, and elsewhere as well, Marc Mauillon often sacrifices beauty of tone for psychological truth and sings more like a blues singer with raw, uninhibited tone. I have to admit that no other reading has touched me so deeply".

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"Sweden has a lot of ensembles specialising in baroque music, and here three groups of singers and instrumentalists active in the southernmost region of Sweden, Skåne, have joined forces, which also include several Danish members. All of them are deeply committed and experienced in the field of early baroque ... There is vitality and playfulness, and the rhythmic acuity is tangible. This is to a great extent a swinging Orfeo ... The singers here are, as a rule, experienced choristers and their voices blend well in the many choral passages - further proof that this production is a true teamwork ... How does it stand comparison with existing recordings? Very well indeed! ... Malmberg's more intimate and small-scale version on the new BIS is a worthy alternative and arguably more historically correct".

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"Parrott's approach to recapturing the novelty of Orfeo is all about intimacy ... The real closeness here is the sacred contract between singers and audience ... [prizing] their words words audibly, projecting them with a clarity and colouring perfectly suited to a small space ... We can hear Parrott's approach most clearly in Orfeo himself ... Daniels reserves his emotional outbursts for a very few key moments ... In the same vein, Emily van Evera does the tricky Messenger scene with chilling simplicity ... 'Possente spirto' - the highlight of the work - is a triumph ... I'm not sure whether I'm more impressed by [Daniels's] technique or his formidable subtlety ... It [Orfeo] seems more remarkable than ever".

"Gonzalez has a fine voice and gives 'Possente spirto', the geographical and spiritual heart of the work, a reading of great poetic beauty ... Both in his own singing and in that of the other soloists, there is a keen collective sympathetic understanding of Monteverdi's operatic language ... This is a dramatic and lively reading given by a well-selected and carefully matched cast guided by a musician of sensitivity and imagination".

"Despite his furious speeds, noisy percussion and mannered cadences, Alessandrini is well worth hearing".

"I will be surprised if this Orfeo is bettered in the near future".

"The instrumental forces, drawn from his [Savall's] long-favoured ensembles ... here exquisitely melded to perfect synchronisation, is on the large site ... The real revelation is that of the baritone Marc Mauillon as Orfeo, whose understanding of the intimate fusion of words and music that lies at the heart of Monteverdi's writing produces some beautifully parsed and rhetorically effective singing ... Yet for all its virtues this is not my recording of preference"".

"This latest version brings together three Swedish ensembles ... Fredrik Malmberg has chosen a cast of comparatively little-known soloists ... Although there is a certain uniformity of approach and tonal quality ... there are occasional passages of incisive and effective characterisation, notably in Maria Forsström's reading ... There is some fine instrumental playing, with the outstandingly crisp delivery and rhythmic vitality of the wind instrumentalists bringing particular pleasure. Improvised ornamentation is for the most part discrete".