Cantata d'Amore Italian Love Cantatas
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: George Frideric Handel, (Pietro) Alessandro (Gaspare) Scarlatti, Antonio Caldara
Label: Capriccio
Magazine Review Date: 2/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 72
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 10 703

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Venne voglia ad amore |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Axel Köhler, Alto Balázs Máté, Cello George Frideric Handel, Composer Raphael Alpermann, Harpsichord |
Fra pensieri quel pensiero |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Axel Köhler, Alto Balázs Máté, Cello George Frideric Handel, Composer Raphael Alpermann, Harpsichord |
Mi, palpita il cor |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Axel Köhler, Alto Balázs Máté, Cello Christoph Huntgeburth, Flute George Frideric Handel, Composer Raphael Alpermann, Harpsichord |
Sonatas for Flute and Continuo, Movement: B minor, HWV367b (Op.1:9) |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Balázs Máté, Cello Christoph Huntgeburth, Flute George Frideric Handel, Composer Raphael Alpermann, Harpsichord |
(L')Armi crudeli e fiere |
(Pietro) Alessandro (Gaspare) Scarlatti, Composer
(Pietro) Alessandro (Gaspare) Scarlatti, Composer Axel Köhler, Alto Balázs Máté, Cello Raphael Alpermann, Harpsichord |
Vicino a un rivoletto |
Antonio Caldara, Composer
Anne Schumann, Violin Antonio Caldara, Composer Axel Köhler, Alto Balázs Máté, Cello Raphael Alpermann, Harpsichord |
Author: Lindsay Kemp
This is not Axel Kohler’s first solo recital disc, but it is the first to have come my way, and very welcome it is too. The German countertenor has already impressed me on a couple of occasions (most recently in Telemann’s Donner-Ode, 11/95), and his dark, mellifluous, soundly supported voice is well capable of imparting an appropriately fruity sense of longing to this languorous collection of Italian love cantatas. Notwithstanding the presence of so much Handel, the most substantial work here is Antonio Caldara’s Vicino a un rivoletto, a noble, movingly sustained piece whose two arias last more than ten minutes each and feature obbligato parts for violin and cello respectively. These are played with a tendency to sour intonation, it must be said, but they are nevertheless sensitively done and with considerable sympathy for the voice part.
There is an obbligato part, this time for flute, in Handel’s fineMi, palpita il cor, and the flute also provides the disc’s only instrumental interlude in the form of a Handel sonata. Christoph Huntgeburth plays well enough, though I thought him just a little stiff compared to the others (his tone is also curiously hard and modern-sounding).
Throughout, the continuo section is alert and responsive to Kohler’s intelligent interpretative demands, and the end result is that these are performances of pleasing musicality. Be warned, however, that although there are insert-notes in English, the texts of the cantatas themselves appear only in Italian and German. There are also some clumsy edits at the beginning of the Scarlatti, one of which I take to be responsible for a highly implausible surge in volume 18 seconds in.'
There is an obbligato part, this time for flute, in Handel’s fine
Throughout, the continuo section is alert and responsive to Kohler’s intelligent interpretative demands, and the end result is that these are performances of pleasing musicality. Be warned, however, that although there are insert-notes in English, the texts of the cantatas themselves appear only in Italian and German. There are also some clumsy edits at the beginning of the Scarlatti, one of which I take to be responsible for a highly implausible surge in volume 18 seconds in.'
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