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A musical hit, a dramatic miss Toronto
Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre
01/16/2019 - & January 17*, 18, 19, 20, 2019
Francesco Gasparini: Overture to L’oracolo del Fato
Antonio Vivaldi: Sonata in C Minor for violin and continuo, RV 6 – Sonata in G Major for two violins, RV 71
Nicola Porpora: "Son prigioniera d’amore" from Poro – "Alto Giove" from Polifemo
Leonardo Vinci: Overture to Partenope – "Non ti minaccio sdegno" from Catone in Utica
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Overture and "Lieto cosi talvolta" from Adriano in Siria
Giovanni Bononcini: Sonata prima for cello and continuo
Riccardo Broschi: "Qual guerriero in campo armato" from Idapse
Roberta Invernizzi (soprano), Dino Gonçalves (actor), Felix Deak (violoncello), Geneviève Gilardeau (violin)
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Elissa Citterio (music director, violin)
(© Jeff Higgins)
This seemed promising – another staged concert by the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, with a selection of unusual pieces by lesser-known but very productive composers from the late 1600s and early 1700s, spiced up with witty visuals by Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674-1755), a caricaturist who hosted musical evenings in his Roman home. The title for the presentation is The Harlequin Salon, and the host is Ghezzi’s mischievous servant, portrayed by actor Dino Gonçalves. A singer is on hand who sings two arias as legendary soprano Faustina Bordoni. Harlequin is smitten and imagines Bordoni to be smitten with him. It turns out the soprano is enamoured of the famous castrato Farinelli, who also appears and sings three arias.
Tafelmusik’s oboist, Marco Cera, conceived and scripted the program, and also displayed deft skill in reproducing some of Ghezzi’s drawings, thus driving home the caricaturist’s ingenuity and wit. Despite this, plus a lovely, intimate stage picture with just eight instrumentalists in a candle-lit room, the effort to create the entertainment quickly becomes so laboured that all sense of fun dissipates. A notable number of people left at the intermission, something I had never seen before at a Tafelmusik event
The musical performances are all fine, but there is a big problem with the five arias. Taken out of context of their operas (all opera serie), their point is blunted. The two fiery arias work in the context of the staging, but the final one, from Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria, is almost a day’s work in itself. Roberta Invernezzi engages nicely, first as Bordoni and then as Farinelli (and the costumes are fun), but the evening soon starts to languish and never recovers.
Orchestra members shine in their solo pieces: cellist Felix Deak in the Bononcini sonata, and Mr Cera in his accompaniment to the Pergolesi aria. Elissa Citterio gives her usual sparkle to the Vivaldi sonatas (joined by Geneviève Gilardeau for one of them). But overall it added up to a rare Tafelmusik event that missed its target.
Michael Johnson
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