Cecilia Bertoli as Castrati

Cecilia Bartoli

Sorely in need of a musical interlude, I am listening to the astonishing voice of Cecilia Bartoli, with the equally astonishing and vibrant Il Giardino Armonico .

I saw Il Giardino Armonico  perform in Maribor a couple of years ago and it was a performance I will never forget.  They were stunning. Many of the old instruments are more difficult to play than their modern equivalents but they make paying them seem easy.   Just like Bartoli, who sings without seeming to breath at all.

Il Giardino Armonico

One of the highlights of the festival here in Maribor has been hearing Il Giardino Armonico founded in 1985 for musicians who have specialised in playing on period instruments. Conductor was founding memeber Giovanni Antonini.What a difference it makes hearing baroque music on period instruments played by people who know what they are doing. The program included two fairly lengthy pieces by Haydn but such was the skill of the orchestra that not once did my attention leave the music.  I looked them up on the web:

"Il Giardino Armonico are as Italian as the music itself—brightly coloured, individualistic, confident, stylish, arrestingly decorated, bubbling with enthusiasm and... add your own adjectives." 

- John Duarte, Gramophone Magazine

I heard later they had come to Maribor on their way between other engagements, partly because Antonini is friends with some of the musicians playing here. The orchestra is based in Milan but what a treat to hear it here. Giovanni Sollima played the first half with the orchestra and was as brilliant as he was at his earlier concert. The Maribor audience are musicially literate and appreciated both him and the orchestra. Their reward was two encores.