L’OLIMPIADE

with Romina Basso, Karina Gauvin, Franziska Gottwald, Ruth Rosique & Nicholas Spanos

Venice Baroque Orchestra

Markellos Chryssicos, conductor

Naïve

ABOUT THE ALBUM

In the eighteenth century, 1,300 years after the last Olympic Games in ancient times, the Olympic theme was highly fashionable. Many composers based operas on the libretto L'Olimpiade by Metastasio. This recording has been structured to contain all of Metastasio’s original arias; it is a pasticcio in the sense that the music is by 16 different composers amongst the many that set the libretto between 1733 and the end of the century.

This new release includes 16 arias in world-premiere recording.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

ALL MUSIC

BEST CLASSICAL VOCAL ALBUMS 2012

“There is enough separation between tracks that the result comes off less as an opera than as a Baroque and early Classical recital shared by six absolutely outstanding singers. They all sing with phenomenal agility and toss off the dazzling coloratura demands with apparent ease…countertenor Nicholas Spanos and tenor Nicholas Phan, respectively, have two and three arias, which they dispatch with finesse.”

GRAMOPHONE

“As King Clistene, Nicholas Phan fields a compact, mellifluous tenor…”

PRESTO CLASSICAL

“...Nicholas Phan, another relative newcomer, sounds incredibly youthful as the doddery old king but his distinctive, never-less-than-beautiful sound left me craving a full-length disc of arias. Fingers crossed for that…”