“Aspromonte brings an impressive range of vocal colour to the task, on full display at moments such as the highly dramatic reading of the opening strophe of the prologue to Cesti’s L’Argia. While the bright and silvery tones of her upper register are prominent features, there is also much expressive use of darker and warmer tones in these fluid and flexible accounts, packed with sensitive detail, and alive to the essential unity of words, music and meaning.”

The Gramophone preises our releases of “Prologue” with Francesca Aspromonte, Enrico Onofri , and il pomo d’oro! Read a glimpse of the review below!

For this imaginative and beautifully delivered record, Enrico Onofri and Francesca Aspromonte have assembled an intriguing sequence of prologues (where necessary adapting those with dialogues), beginning with Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Caccini’s L’Euridice from the beginning of the 17th century and ending with Alessandro Scarlatti’s Gli equivoci in amore, first performed in Rome in 1690. In between, arranged in roughly chronological sequence, come three examples from operas by Cavalli and the majestic opening episode of Stefano Landi’s Il Sant’Alessio. Later, with Cesti’s Il pomo d’oro and Stradella’s La pace incatenata, there is a distinct shift in the direction of prologues based on paired recitatives and arias.

Iain Fenlon

Read the full review on Gramophone – August 2018 Issue

Photo by Nicola Dal Maso