The title
Contra-Tenor
for this release by tenor
Michael Spyres
is a bit misleading.
Spyres
intended it as a counterpart to an earlier release called
BariTenor
, but it is likely to indicate for many listeners a countertenor voice. That is not what is happening here; these are tenor arias, pure and simple. This said, what
offers here is something that is much needed, a counterpart to the athletic 18th century opera recitals by sopranos and countertenors that have gained great popularity over the last few decades. If anything, some of the arias here even exceed the countertenors' displays in terms of sheer virtuosity. They are not so much heroic tenors as, in some cases, angry tenors, and the arias are pretty thrilling. Sample "Fra l'ombre un lamp solo" from
Domenico Sarro
's
Achille in Sciro
, or "Vil trofeo dun alma imbelle" from
Baldassare Galuppi
Alessandro nell'Indie
. These will demonstrate that
, an increasingly popular figure, can handle anything these composers throw at him. They also suggest the fact that many of these works are almost totally obscure. There are pieces by
Rameau
,
Gluck
Vivaldi
, and
Mozart
, but they serve to provide a bit of melodic relief between the real firecracker numbers. The Baroque ensemble
Il Pomo d'Oro
has the heft to stand up to
in the music, and conductor
Francesco Corti
keeps everything together. This is a vocal display of a kind that has rarely been heard lately, and it was no surprise to see it on classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2023. ~ James Manheim