The Mozartists, Ian Page, Christopher Ainslie, Elizabeth Watts - Arne: Artaxerxes

Signum Records

£20.61

Format: 2CD
Catalogue No.: SIGCD672
Barcode: 0635212067222
Release Date: 14th May 2021
Genre: Classical

 A composer inextricably linked with London’s Covent Garden, Thomas Arne’s greatest opera, Artaxerxes, was premièred at the Theatre Royal, the predecessor of the Royal Opera House, on 2 February 1762 and remained in the Covent Garden repertory until the late 1830s, where it received a documented 111 performances before 1790. The young Mozart almost certainly attended a performance when he came to London in the mid-1760s and Haydn was also acquainted with the work, enthusiastically exclaiming that he “had no idea we had such an opera in the English language.”
 The Mozartists, under the dynamic leadership of conductor and artistic director Ian Page, are leading exponents of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries. Originally called Classical Opera, the company was founded in 1997 and has received widespread international acclaim for its stylish and virtuosic period-instrument orchestra, its imaginative and innovative programming and its ability to nurture and develop world-class young artists.
 Renowned for their fresh and insightful interpretations of well-known masterpieces as well as for their ability to bring rare and neglected works to light, they have mounted staged productions of many of Mozart’s operas. In 2015 the company launched MOZART 250, a ground-breaking 27-year project exploring the chronological trajectory of Mozart’s life, works and influences. Described by The Observer as “among the most audacious classical music scheduling ever,” this flagship project presents 250th Anniversary performances of most of Mozart’s important works, placing them in context alongside other significant works by Mozart’s contemporaries.

Tracklisting
CD1
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Overture (Poco più che andante - Larghetto - Gavotta)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “Still silence reigns around” (Mandane, Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 1, Duettino: “Fair Aurora, prithee stay” (Mandane, Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “Alas, thou know’st that for my love to thee” (Arbaces, Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 2, Air: “Adieu, thou lovely youth” (Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “O cruel parting! How can I survive?” (Arbaces, Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 3, Air: “Amid a thousand racking woes” (Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “Be firm, my heart” (Artabanes, Artaxerxes)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 4, Air: “Behold, on Lethe’s dismal strand” (Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “Stay, Artaxerxes, stay” (Semira, Artaxerxes)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 5, Air: “Fair Semira, lovely maid” (Artaxerxes)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “I fear some dread disaster” (Semira, Rimenes)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 6, Air: “When real joy we miss” (Rimenes)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “Ye Gods, protectors of the Persian Empire” (Semira)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 7, Air: “How hard is the fate” (Semira)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “Whither do I fly?” (Tutti)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 8, Air: “Thy father! Away, I renounce the soft claim” (Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “Ye cruel Gods, what crime have I committed” (Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 9, Air: “Acquit thee of this foul offence” (Semira)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Recitative: “Appearance, I must own, is strong against me” (Arbaces, Artaxerxes, Rimenes, Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 10, Air: “O too lovely, too unkind” (Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: Accompanied recitative: “Dear and beloved shade” (Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 1: No. 11, Air: “Fly, soft ideas, fly” (Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: Recitative: “Guards, speed ye to the tower” (Artaxerxes, Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: No. 12, Air: “In infancy, our hopes and fears” (Artaxerxes)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: Recitative: “So far my great resolve succeeds” (Artabanes, Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: No. 13, Air: “Disdainful you fly me” (Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: Recitative: “Why, my dear friend, so pensive” (Rimenes, Artabanes, Semira)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: No. 14, Air: “To sigh and complain” (Rimenes)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: Recitative: “How many links to dire misfortune’s chain” (Semira, Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: No. 15, Air: “If o’er the cruel tyrant love” (Mandane)

CD2
Artaxerxes, Act 2: Recitative: “Which fatal evil shall I first oppose?” (Semira)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: No. 16, Air: “If the river’s swelling waves” (Semira)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: Recitative: “Ye solid pillars of the Persian Empire” (Tutti)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: No. 17, Air: “By that belov’d embrace” (Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: Recitative: “Ah me, at poor Arbaces’ parting” (Mandane, Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: No. 18, Air: “Monster, away” (Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: Recitative: “See, lov’d Semira” (Artaxerxes, Semira, Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: Accompanied recitative: “At last my soul has room” (Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: No. 19, Air: “Thou, like the glorious sun” (Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 2: No. 19, Air: “Thou, like the glorious sun” (Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 20, Air: “Why is death for ever late” (Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: Recitative: “Arbaces! Gracious Heav’n” (Artaxerxes, Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 21, Air: “Water parted from the sea” (Arbaces)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: Recitative: “That face, secure in conscious innocence” (Artaxerxes)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 22, Air: “Though oft a cloud with envious shade” (Artaxerxes)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: Recitative: “My son, Arbaces... where art thou retir’d?” (Artabanes, Rimenes)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 23, Air: “O let the danger of a son” (Rimenes)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: Accompanied recitative: “Ye adverse Gods!” (Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 24, Air: “O, much lov’d son, if death” (Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: Recitative: “Perhaps the King releas’d Arbaces” (Mandane, Semira)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 25, Air: “Let not rage, thy bosom firing” (Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: Recitative: “What have I done? Alas, I vainly thought” (Semira)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 26, Air: “’Tis not true that in our grief” (Semira)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: Recitative: “Nor here my searching eyes” (Arbaces, Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 27, Duetto: “For thee I live, my dearest” (Arbaces, Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: Recitative: “To you, my people, much belov’d” (Artaxerxes, Artabanes, Semira, Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 28, Air: “The soldier, tir’d of war’s alarms” (Mandane)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: Recitative: “Behold, my King, Arbaces at thy feet” (Arbaces, Artaxerxes, Mandane, Artabanes)
Artaxerxes, Act 3: No. 29, Finale: “Live to us, to Empire live” (Semira, Mandane, Arbaces, Artaxerxes, Artabanes)