Joyce DiDonato – In War & Peace (2016) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Joyce DiDonato – In War & Peace: Harmony through Music (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:09 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Booklet, Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Recorded: Gustav Mahler Hall, Kulturzentrum, Grand Hotel Toblach, 13-20 March 2016

“Perhaps my most personal project to date,” is how American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato describes In War and Peace: Harmony through Music. Her ambitions for this collection of arias from Baroque operas are substantial. Surrounded as we are by instability, she hopes it will help us find an answer to a vitally important question: “In the midst of chaos, how do you find peace?”

Her aim is to “steer conversation and discourse … to help all of us find peace in our lives in a dynamic way … As I have tried to convey in this selection of music, the power to bravely tip the scales towards peace lies firmly within every single one of us.”

In War and Peace: Harmony through Music was recorded with Il Pomo d’Oro under its principal conductor Maxim Emelyanychev. The programme comprises 15 arias divided into two sections: ‘War’ and ‘Peace’. Both contain music by Purcell and Handel – including, to close ‘War’, Dido’s dignified, but searing lament from Dido and Aeneas and Almirena’s haunting and heartbreaking ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’ from Rinaldo. An excerpt from Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse is included in ‘Peace’, which concludes with Cleopatra’s spirited and defiantly optimistic ‘Da tempeste il legno infranto’ from Giulio Cesare. A further aria from Giulio Cesare is the bonus track for the album; it is Sesto’s touching apostrophe to hope, ‘Cara speme’, which Joyce DiDonato sings unforgettably on a floating whisper of breath.

With 20 concerts in 12 countries between November 2016 and June 2017, Joyce DiDonato and Il Pomo d’Oro will bring alive the message of In War and Peace: Harmony through Music. In November they will be in Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Austria, Finland and Canada; in December in the USA; in May in France and Germany, and in June in Spain, Ireland and the Czech Republic.

Tracklist:
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Jephtha, HWV 70, Act 1
1. Some dire event hangs oer our heads… Scenes of horror, scenes of woe (Storge) 05:13
Leonardo Leo (1694-1744)
Andromaca, Act 1
2. Prendi quel ferro, o barbaro! (Andromaca) 07:15
George Frideric Handel
Giulio Cesare, HWV 17, Act 1
3. Vani sono i lamenti… Svegliatevi nel core (Sesto) 04:47
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
The Indian Queen, Z. 630, Act 3
4. They tell us that you mighty powers above (Orazia) 04:05
George Frideric Handel
Agrippina, HWV 6, Act 2
5. Pensieri, voi mi tormentate (Agrippina) 06:44
Henry Purcell
Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3
6. Thy hand, Belinda… When I am laid in earth (Dido) 05:03
George Frideric Handel
Rinaldo, HWV 7, Act 2
7. Lascia chio pianga (Almirena) 05:32
Henry Purcell
Bonduca, or the British Heroine, Z. 574, Act 5
8. Oh! Lead me to some peaceful gloom (Bonvica) 03:17
George Frideric Handel
Rinaldo, HWV 7, Act 1
9. Augelletti che cantate (Almirena) 05:36
Niccolo Jommelli (1714-1774)
Attilio Regolo, Act 2
10. Sprezza il furor del vento (Regolo) 07:13
Henry Purcell
The Indian Queen, Z. 630, Prologue
11. Why should men quarrel? (Girl) 01:30
Niccolo Jommelli
Attilio Regolo, Act 1
12. Par che di giubilo (Attilia) 06:09
George Frideric Handel
Susanna, HWV 66, Act 2
13. Lead me, oh lead me to some cool retreat…. Crystal streams in murmurs flowing (Susanna) 08:21
Claudio Monteverdi (1567- 1643)
Il ritorno dUlisse in patria, Act 5
14. Illustratevi, o cieli (Penelope) 02:20
George Frideric Handel
Giulio Cesare, HWV 17, Act 3
15. Da tempeste il legno infranto (Cleopatra) 06:02