Simone Vallerotonda

“Amanti” Cantatas for bass by Benedetto Marcello

Sergio Foresti: bass

Agneszka Oszanca: cello

Alessandro Trapassa: cembalo

Simone Vallerotonda: archlute

The present recording offers five chamber cantatas of Marcello for the bass voice. All the cantatas of this recording are in RARA form (Recitative-Aria-Recitative-Aria) and the arias regularly have the da capo form. The recitatives are often unpredictable in their harmonic solutions.

Like most of Marcello’s cantatas, they treat the subject of love. But the lovers are not happy. They struggle with the all too human complexity of love: feelings of rejection, sadness, jealousy, hope, and mourning. Their thoughts and feelings are intended to stimulate personal reflection. For Sergio Foresti and his colleagues it was a great joy to explore this music together with its complex feelings and nuances. In the spirit of Benedetto Marcello they seek to express the words and meaning of the text in these virtuosic and beautiful compositions.