Tenor and composer
Marco Beasley developed the concept for this album of cantatas, arias, and sonatas by the mostly obscure composers of Naples of the early eighteenth century. Alessandro Scarlatti is the only composer widely known today, but each of the pieces here is so delightful that the discoveries on the CD call for a wider exploration of this repertoire. The writing has a distinctive delicacy and avoidance of the clichés of the Italian late Baroque that gives credence to
Beasley's assertion that Naples' musical culture developed in relative isolation from that of the rest the Italian peninsula, due largely to the pervasive influence of an individual late seventeenth century teacher, Francesco Provenzale. The pieces are written in the Neapolitan dialect and are further unified by an inventiveness that discovers fresh means of dealing with the conventions of late Baroque harmony, melody, thematic development, and scale. Alessandro Scarlatti's wonderfully quirky cantata Ammore, brutto figlio de pottana is in nine movements, but lasts just over seven minutes, and includes a da capo aria that clocks in at 55 seconds. It ends with a recitative rather than an aria, but the whole piece is so compactly conceived and persuasively executed that it feels entirely satisfying. Giuseppe Porsile's charming Cantata sopra l'arcicalascione is a marvel of graceful, rhythmic, and melodic surprises. Alfonso M. dei Liguori's engaging and melodically memorable pastorale Quanno nascette Ninno a Betlemme deserves to become a Christmas standard.
Beasley sings with utter naturalness, full tone, and easy warmth, and the ensemble
Accordone, directed by
Guido Morini, gives a spirited performance and plays with a lovely blend. This revelatory disc should be of strong interest to fans of Baroque music at its most sparkling and gives rise to the hope that
Beasley and
Morini will continue their exploration of Neapolitan music of the era.