CHARLOTTE MARGIONO, soprano Her Fiordiligi in Jürgen Flimm’s production of Cosi fan tutte with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, January 1990 in Amsterdam, put Charlotte Margiono without any doubt at the international top of Mozart sopranos. After her first Nozze di Figaro in Bern in January 1988 many Contessas were to follow in numerous new productions (Hamburg 1990/94, Aix-en-Provence 1991, Bordeaux 1995, Amsterdam 1993 and Dresden 1995, Vienna and, with the Wiener Staatsoper, in Japan 1994). Her Mozart roles include Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito (Aix 1988, Salzburg 1991), Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte (Amsterdam 1988, Aix 1989), Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Bordeaux 1992), Aminda in La Finta Giardiniera (Parijs 1991) and, her favourite, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (with John Eliot Gardiner in Parma, Amsterdam, London, Ludwigsburg 1994). In addition to these Mozart-roles Charlotte Margiono is gradually building a wide lyrical repertoire: Marie in Die Verkaufte Braut, Mimi in La Bohème, Agathe in Der Freischütz (role debut in Hamburg 1999), Desdemona in Otello (role debut in Paris and Amsterdam, 1994), Rusalka (role debut in the Netherlands 1998), Marguerite in a concert performance of La Damnation de Faust to close the Bernard Haitink Festival in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (1999), and Eva in Meistersinger (role debut in Amsterdam 2000). Future engagements for new roles include Leonore in Fidelio (Sir Simon Rattle, Glyndebourne 2001), Elsa in Lohengrin (Amsterdam 2002), Chrysothemis in Elektra (Brussel 2002). 3 Conductors with whom Charlotte Margiono is frequently singing are a.o. Claudio Abbado, Gerd Albrecht, Gary Bertini, Frans Brüggen, Sir Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Carlo Maria Giulini, Hartmut Haenchen, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Armin Jordan, James Judd, Alain Lombard, Ingo Metzmacher, Antonio Pappano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Marc Soustrot, Edo de Waart en Franz Welser-Möst. Almost all leading international orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, l’Orchestre National de France, Madrid, Santa Caecilia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Florence and Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn regularly invite the soprano for a.o. Mahler Symphony 2 and 4, Rossini Stabat Mater, Strauss Vier letzte Lieder, Berlioz Les Nuits d’été, Verdi Requiem, Ravel Shéhérazade, Berg Sieben Frühe Lieder, Beethoven IX, Missa Solemnis and, especially, Ah Perfido! Charlotte Margiono’s voice is recorded a.o. as Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte (Erato), Missa Solemnis, Ah Perfido!, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with John Eliot Gardiner (DGG-Archiv), Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (Philips), Cosi fan tutte (Fiordiligi), La Finta Giardiniera (Arminda), Le Nozze di Figaro (Contessa), various Mozart Masses and Beethovens Fidelio (Harnoncourt/Teldec). Strauss’ Jugendlieder were recorded with the accompaniment of Friedrich Haider. Recently Charlotte Margiono has founded her own Margiono Quintet, with four leading string-players from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The official debut of the Margiono Quintet in the Amsterdam Photo: Marco Borggreve Concertgebouw in November 1998 was an enormous success. Several national and international chambermusic festivals already showed their interest in the Quintet. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 -1791) Inspired by historical performance practice, a group of players from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra foun- ded the Amsterdam Bach Soloists in 1985. The ensemble consists of a fixed core of players (some of whom still 1. Ch’io mi scordi di te? – Non temer, amato bene 9’46 belong to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), to which other players are added if the programme requires Scena and Rondo KV. 505 (1786) it. The repertoire ranges from the Baroque period to the early Classical: Bach, Haydn, Mozart and their con- Leo van Doeselaar, pianoforte temporaries. Without regard to the type of programme, the ensemble either plays under the direction of its concertmaster, Henk Rubingh, or invites a specialist of the relevant repertoire along for the occasion. 2. Al desio, di chi t’adora 5’10 In the last few years the Amsterdam Bach Soloists have worked with many renowned Baroque specia- Rondo KV. 577 (1789) for “Le nozze di Figaro” lists. Each year they perform Bach’s Christmas Oratorio under the direction of such conductors as Philippe Herreweghe and Roy Goodman. Soloists too are chosen by the ensemble for their specialist talents: Michael 3. Parto, ma tu ben mio 5’54 Chance, Charlotte Margiono, Leo van Doeselaar, Elly Ameling, Jard van Nes, Anner Bijlsma, Andreas Scholl, Aria from “La clemenza di Tito” KV. 621 (1791) Thomas Zehetmair and others. For a programme of French Baroque music the French conductor and gamba Frank van den Brink, clarinet player Christophe Coin was invited as a guest conductor. The Amsterdam Bach Soloists occupy a special place in Dutch musical life with their dual activities: both 4. Per pietà, ben mio 7’47 as performers of Baroque music according to the criteria of stylistic authenticity and in their use of modern Rondo from “Così fan tutte” KV. 588 (1786) instruments. Thus they have built a bridge between the 18th and the 21st centuries.The ensemble’s own series in the Waalse Kerk, Amsterdam, and the Geertekerk, Utrecht, have become an indispensable part of the concert 4 5. Cara, se le mie pene 9’54 life of these two towns, while their annual performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio has become a national 5 Aria KV6. deest (1769?) tradition. In addition, the ensemble has made about 20 CDs. The Amsterdam Bach Soloists do not receive a state subsidy, their main sponsors being Getronics, an IT 6. Non più di fiori 6’41 and communications company, and OHRA, a banking and insurance group. Rondo from “La clemenza di Tito” KV. 621 (1791) Frank van den Brink, basset horn 7. Non temer, amato bene 6’40 Violin I Henk Rubingh Double bass Libia Hernandez Bassoon Frans-Robert Berkhout Rondo KV. 490 (1786) for “Idomeneo” Nienke van Rijn Flute Eline van Esch Dymphna van Dooremaal Henk Rubingh, violin Jeroen Woudstra Dorien Schade Guus Dral Violin II Katharina Schönberg Oboe Henk Knöps French horn Herman Jeurissen Total playing time: 51’55 Hans Rijkmans Willem van de Kar Louise Schepel Suzanne Huynen Clarinet Frank van den Brink Ron Schaaper Viola Roland Krämer Erno Hartsuiker Pianoforte Leo van Doeselaar Jacomine Punt Gerrit Boonstra Charlotte Margiono, soprano Gert-Jan Leuverink Basset horn Frank van den Brink Amsterdam Bach Soloists Violoncello Lucia Swarts Gerrit Boonstra AMSTERDAM BACH SOLOISTS Albert Brüggen Jacques Meertens High Fashion for Sopranos one or more solo instruments, just as in some opera arias, with the important difference that Mozart almost Mozart’s arias with obligato instruments always places virtuosity at the service of portrayal of characters and their states of mind. Especially in the early arias – for the most part short scenas based on texts by Pietro Metastasio, the leading opera seria librettist – we “Any note you can reach I can go higher. I can sing anything higher than you.” These words from the hilarious see how Mozart systematically attempts to express the various standard affects, such as love, anger, despair and duet in Irving Berlin’s musical Annie Get Your Gun could well serve as the motto of many singers and instru- jealousy. In a letter of 30 July 1768 Leopold Mozart describes young Wolfgang’s rapid progress in this regard: mentalists in the 18th century. For in accounts of opera dating from that time we often read of how rivalry got “I sent for the best volume of Metastasio’s works which lay close to hand, opened it and presented Wolfgang the better of dramatic content. As an example we may quote the music historian Charles Burney’s report of a with the first aria that I came across. He took a pen and wrote the music, including many instrumental parts, at performance of 1722 in which the famous castrato Farinelli took part: astonishing speed, without thinking about it, in the presence of several important persons. He did this before Kapellmeister Bono, Abbot Metastasio, Hasse, the Duke of Braganza and Prince Von Caunitz.” He was seventeen when he left [Naples] to go to Rome, where during the run of an opera, there was a struggle A good example of these early arias is “Cara, se le mie pene,” the only one on this CD that has no connection every night between him and a famous player on the trumpet in a song accompanied by that instrument; this, at with an opera. Almost nothing is known about this aria, which Mozart must have written around 1769. For this first, seemed amicable and merely sportive, till the audience began to interest themselves in the contest, and to reason it was omitted from Köchel’s catalogue of Mozart’s works. Still, it is almost certainly the work of the take different sides: after severally swelling a note, in which each manifested the power of his lungs, and tried to young Mozart, given that its only source is a manuscript in the hand of Joseph Richard Estlinger: from 1760 he rival the other in brilliancy and force, they had both a swell and shake together, by thirds, which was continued was a double-bass player and later also a copyist at the Salzburg court, and his work was highly admired by both so long, while the audience eagerly waited the event, that both seemed to be exhausted; and, in fact, the trum- Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart. peter, wholly spent, gave it up, thinking, however, his antagonist as much tired as himself, and on that it would be a drawn battle; when Farinelli, with a smile on his countenance, showing he had only been sporting with him Nancy Storace 6 all that time, broke out at once in the same breath, with fresh vigour, and not only swelled and shook the note, Whether a concert or an opera aria, the music had to show off the singer’s vocal qualities to the best pos- 7 but ran the most rapid divisions, and was at last silenced only by the acclamations of the audience.