Alarico il Baltha, the Audacious, King of the Visigoths

Agostino Steffani produced most of his operatic works in Germany, for the most part in Munich (between 1681 and 1688) and in Hannover. In Hannover between 1689 and 1709, before he became a diplomat and before he began his ecclesiastical career, the composer from Castelfranco composed at least eight operas,for the city's new opera theater becoming the point of reference for musical life. Today, along with Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), Steffani is considered one of the great creative talents of his time. He composed Alarico in 1687 in Munich.
This recording highlights for the first time one of the most important examples of baroque drama in music. Just to mention some of the most enthusiastic reviews: Opera News […] This opera is a rare treasure, Really admirable the choice to release the complete edition […] Direction and interpreters quite young and not so well-known, but of very high level both from a technical and vocal point of view, as well as for the stylistic and interpreting efforts which are surely well adjusted to the almost "impossible" baroque style by Steffani".(R. V. S. Lee) and Opera Now […] A fantastic recording, plenty of nuances with an Italian cast of voices, all of them of extraordinary high level. I really shows, once again, the superiority of the new music and vocal Italian schools above all the others; surely as far as style and interpretative mood is concerned, if not also referring to a technical point of view. We have clear examples of young artists who are very well prepared and sometimes they even reach perfection by performing various works of rare beauty […].
(Gary Smith)

View Also: Agostino Steffani, Guerino Pelaccia, Lee Ji-Young, Loretta Liberato, Luca Casagrande, Marco Democratico, Maria Carla Curia, Stefania Maiardi, Won Mi-Jung

Iconography: Gianluca Corona, Quarto di un intero, 2008 - mixed painting on canvas

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