Le Tre Soprano is an intriguing album based on the careers of the Three Ladies of Ferrara; three virtuosi who served as Ladies in Waiting to the young Duchess of Ferrara in the late 16th century and became sufficiently renowned as musicians that Tasso wrote poems about them and Monteverdi, Strossi and others wrote music for them.
The music on the album is all from that period, so it often sounds surprisingly “modern”.. It’s quite varied musically and very well performed by three excellent singers; sopranos Amanda Forsythe and Amanda Powell and mezzo Amanda Crider along with members of the American period ensemble Apollo’s Fire and their leader Jeannette Sorrell who is also responsible for the arrangements. The band consists of Francisco Fullana and Emi Tanabe – violin, Andrew Fouts – violin and viola, René Schiffer – cello, William Simms and Brian Kay – archlute, theorbo, and guitar, Parker Ramsay – baroque triple harp and Anthony Taddeo – percussion with Sorrell on keyboards.
Handel’s Israel in Egypt is one of the less well known of his English language oratorios. It’s also got a bit of an ofdd performance history with the first of the three acts often omitted. The new recording from period instrument ensemble Apollo’s Fire includes all three acts but omits some numbers and shortens others in a selection made by music director Jeannette Sorrell. This appears not to be uncommon. A quick scan of available recordings revealed performance durations of anywhere from 75 minutes to 150 minutes. This one comes in right on the bottom end of that range.
operaramblings 