Caldara: Medea

This is an outstanding programme of chamber cantatas by the prolific late-baroque Venetian Antonio Caldara, with a couple of instrumental works further enhancing the mixture. The four solo cantatas are sung by countertenor Gérard Lesne, accompanied by the five players of the early music ensemble Il Seminario musicale including Pierre Hantaï at the keyboard.The opening item, the cantata 'Medea in Corinto', brings us all the passion and drama of the Medea legend, and it's superbly sung by Lesne expressing the full fury, jealousy and vengeance of the sorceress. The instrumental group are every bit as good, accompanying with virtuosity and passion. The work is virtually a baroque opera in miniature, and in the hands of these musicians it's a terrific success.The other three cantatas in the programme concern the more conventional aspects of love such as longing, misery and heartbreak, but they bring many beautiful details as in the vigorous closing aria of 'Soffri, mio caro Alcino'; a continuo aria but with the instruments here providing ample colour and variety, boring it is not. The closing cantata, 'Vicino a un rivoletto', is melodically outstanding; it includes a lovely aria, 'Zeffiretto amorosetto' with a fine violin part imitating the birdsong of the text, as well as an especially beautiful cello line in the closing aria 'Ahimè, sento il mio core'. The two instrumental sonatas, Corellian in format but very much characterised by Caldara's own melodic and textural flair, are delightful, inventive and superbly performed here.It would be good to hear Caldara's 'Medea' from a female voice one of these days, but it can't be denied that Lesne does a brilliant job here. Altogether this is an outstanding programme and a real treat for fans of this resurgent late baroque composer; it would make an excellent companion, for example, to soprano Robin Johannsen's very fine selection from the composer's opera arias and cantatas  Caldara: In Dolce Amore . The present CD is also available as part of a two-disc re-issue coupled with a disc of motets by Stradella,  Caldara: Cantatas / Stradella: Motets , which has been very well reviewed but which I understand no longer includes the cantata texts or translations. Personally, I greatly prefer to have these and so gladly paid the extra for the present disc, which has excellent booklet notes with all texts and translations.