Amoretti

German soprano Christiane Karg shot to prominence following her 2006 debut at the Salzburg Festival. In 2009, the periodical Opernwelt voted her Newcomer of the Year in the female singer category, and she received the ECHO Klassik award for her first song CD, ‘Verwandlung’, the following year. Christiane worked with Jonathan Cohen in the Glyndebourne Touring Opera in the 2010/11 season, from which this recording project arose. On ‘Amoretti’, Karg and Arcangelo take the listener on an emotional roller coaster ride that begins with a tender plea and leads via yearning, tenderness, pain, and despair to the final Adieu. Alongside arias by Mozart and Gluck, there are two lesser-known ones by their French contemporary André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, one of which is presented on CD for the first time.

Featured works

• Mozart: ‘Amoretti’ from La Finta Semplice K51
• Mozart: ‘Ferma, aspetta’ – ‘Infelici affetti miei’ from Ascanio in Alba K111
• Grétry: ‘Comme un éclair’ from La fausse magie
• Mozart: ‘Lungi da te mio bene’ from Mitridate, re di Ponto K. 87
• Gluck: ‘Soumis au silence’ from Orphée et Eurydice
• Mozart: ‘Biancheggia’ from Il sogno di Scipione K126
• Grétry: ‘Il va venir … Pardonne, o mon juge’ from Silvain
• Grétry: ‘Au bien supreme’ from Lucile
• Gluck: ‘Sacre piante, amoci rio’ from Il Parnaso confuso
• Gluck: ‘In mezzo a un mar cruedele’ from Telemacco, ossia L’isola di Circè 
• Mozart: ‘Odo, o mi sembra udir’ – ‘Fra i pensier piu funesti di morte’ from Lucia Silla K135
• Gluck: ‘Adieu, conservez dans votre âme’ from Iphigénie en Aulide

Press & Praise

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

“…an extremely attractive potpourri – and it’s extremely attractively executed by Christiane Karg…she’s an expert technician with a lovely bright voice. She is also a responsive, intelligent mood-creator and stylist…these polished performances, excellently supported by a British conductor and period band, should give much pleasure.”

GRAMOPHONE

“The Gluck items are all done with style but it’s the airs by Gretry that make the disc so desirable. Listen to the excerpt from Silvain, a complete scena only five minutes long, and you will be hooked.”

THE OBSERVER

“Jonathan Cohen’s crack ensemble Arcangelo is making a name for itself…Karg’s sound is clear and effortlessly stratospheric...”