The Other Orlando Furioso!

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741): Orlando furioso, RV 819.

Description: The 1726 Orlando furioso is Vivaldi's best-known opera but there is another one - in 1714, the composer took the manuscript of a version by Alberto Ristori (1692?-1753), which he had been revising and adding to and subtracting from during the work's 40-odd performances as singers came and went and his own inspiration surged (Vivaldi had only written two operas at the time), and completely made it a new work, jettisoning all of Ristori's arias and refiguring most of the recitatives. That's the short version; the booklet notes take 8 pages of sometimes bewildering detail to describe the process. But, after two years of work on the gigantic mess of the surviving manuscript, we now have a "new" Vivaldi opera! 2 CDs. Italian-English libretto. Riccardo Novaro (baritone), Romina Basso (mezzo), Gaëlle Arquez, Teodora Gheorghiu (sopranos), Modo Antiquo; Federico Maria Sardelli.