In turbato mare irato

During the XVIII century the European musical panorama was struck by the castratos phenomenon: singers with thefeminine tone but with a masculine toracic capacity, that allowed them to sing in a very high register and keep the notesfor a very long time, something that – together with the curiosity coming from being half way from man and woman –raised great enthusiasm within the audience of the main opera theaters.
These forgotten stars of the eighteen century music came to the attention of a wider public and audience in 1994 withthe very succsessful movie about Farinelli's life that pushed many sopranists and counter-tenors to extend their horizonsto the well known arias by Händel to other operas by less known (or forgotten) composers such as Riccardo Broschi(Farinelli's brother), Egidio Romualdo Duni and Geminiano Giacomelli.
This CD presents a beautiful selection of arias, finely matching the Ombra mai fu e Lascia ch’io pianga by Händelto two arias from the Demofoonte by Duni and Sposa non mi conosci from the Merope by Giacomelli, that became famoussome years ago by Cecilia Bartoli.
The repertoire is completed by a beautiful sacred music page, In turbato mare irato, a veryvirtuosistic motet by Vivaldi! Protagonist of this CD is Francesco Divito, a sopranist with a very wide and soft voice, hereaccompained by the Orchestra da Camera «Benedetto Marcello», directed with great taste by an inspired Flavio EmilioScogna.