LAMENTO: THE SONGS OF HENRI DUPARC WITH ANDREA MASTRONI and MATTIA OMETTO.

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

mastroni

LAMENTO SONGS OF HENRI DUPARC WITH ANDREA MASTRONI, BASS AND MATTIA OMETTO, PIANO

De sa dent soudaine et vorace, Comme un chien l’amour m’a mordu... (Suddenly and voraciously Love has bitten me like a dog) sings Bonnières’ text for Henri Duparc’s Le Manoir de Rosamonde, and the fine Italian basso Andrea Mastroni snarls out the phrase in one of many daring choices in his interpretation of all sixteen mélodies of the French master.

In the narrative, ballad-like songs like Au pays où se fait la guerre, La vague et la cloche, and Le galop Mastroni summons an impressive basso cantante voice coupled to a keen dramatic sense.

Not one to overwhelm the delicate gems that make up the bulk of Duparc’s song output – 16 in all – Andrea Mastroni adopts a dark-hued mezza-voce that allows him to spin out long legato phrases without any difficulty.

Mastroni, an impressive singing actor whom I have seen live on stage more than once, is willing to show true vulnerability in confessional utterances like Testament and La vie antérieure, songs in which the absence of artifice, and true intimacy are of the utmost importance. His French diction is unimpeachable and the style right on point.

Mattia Ometto is the superb collaborative pianist and ostensibly a scholar who provides insightful line notes.

Giovanni Caruso is the engineer in this gem of a CD issued by Brilliant Classics in 2015 which by happenchance just reached my hands just days ago. What luck!

Rafael de Acha      http://www.Rafael’sMusicNotes.com

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”