Nicola Fago: Cantatas for Solo Voice and Continuo, Volume Two
Nicola Fago (1677–1745) was one of the leading practitioners of the chamber cantata, a kind of mini-opera for voice and ensemble brought to perfection by several generations of composers working in the aristocratic courts in Naples. The six examples by Fago recorded here – for the first time – reveal him to have been a master of the genre: they are dramatic, full of rhythmic excitement and stuffed with catchy tunes. Fago’s contemporaries called him ‘Il Tarantino’, since he was born in Taranto, in the area now known as Puglia, in the heel of Italy; this recording is the second of a series of three Toccata Classics albums dedicated to Fago’s cantatas, and part of a wider exploration of Pugliese composers.
Riccardo Angelo Strano, countertenor (1)
Ensemble Barocco della Cappella Musicale ‘Santa Teresa dei Maschi’ (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11)
Claudio Mastrangelo, Baroque cello
Giuseppe Petrella, theorbo and Baroque guitar (3, 5)
Davide Milano, violone (3, 5, 9)
Sabino Manzo, harpsichord and director
Listen To This Recording:
- Che vuoi, mio cor, che vuoi?, M2
- Toccata No. 10
- Doppo mille martiri, M5
- Toccata No. 5
- Ingegni curiosi, m7
- Toccata No. 1
- Non credo che vi sia maggior tormento, m10 (1705)
- Toccata No. 9
- E ben chiara ragione, m6
- Toccata No. 7
- Destati omai dal sonno, m4 (1712)
FRANCESCO PAOLO SCIPRIANI (1678–1753)
NICOLA FAGO
SCIPRIANI
FAGO
SCIPRIANI
FAGO
SCIPRIANI
FAGO
SCIPRIANI
FAGO
FIRST RECORDINGS
MusicWeb International :
‘On both volumes the young Sicilian countertenor Riccardo Angelo Strano and Ensemble Barocco Santa Teresa dei Maschi give good accounts of themselves in this repertoire. […]
On both volumes the young Sicilian countertenor Riccardo Angelo Strano and Ensemble Barocco Santa Teresa dei Maschi give good accounts of themselves in this repertoire. […]
As usual with Toccata, the notes in the booklets are state-of-the-art scholarly but accessible by the ordinary reader. […]
I’m certainly looking forward, however, to the third and concluding volume of the Toccata rehabilitation of this almost unknown composer.’
—Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International