The reissue of Jordi Savall’s Farnace

Antonio Vivaldi’s opera Farnace was released in 2002 in a superb recording by Jordi Savall on his label Alia Vox. Naïve and Alia Vox work closely together (the latter is reediting the entire discography of Jordi Savall, found in the Naïve catalogue, and Naïve is their distributor in France). As the Vivaldi Edition moves ahead in its goal to release all the existing operas of Vivaldi, we are proud to include this fairly recent recording in the collection.
The 2002 recording included arias by the Spanish composer Francesco Corselli which were found in the performing edition used in Madrid in 1739. Eliminating these arias has been the only modification we have made, thereby allowing a faithful representation of the 1731 manuscript of this opera as conceived in Vivaldi’s hand.
Jordi Savall made the following observations on the original release:
‘This recording is based on a selection of the most successful moments from the last two performances recorded live at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, on 26 and 28 October 2001. It should therefore be pointed out that any differences of sound or ambience which may occasionally seem to affect the singing, or give the impression of the singers being further away, are due to the performers’ position on stage. Any small inconvenience arising from the recording of a live stage performance is amply compen sated for by the great spontaneity of the recitatives and the sincerity of feeling in the arias, in which the singers genuinely improvise some ornamentation in the da capo sections.’

Susan ORLANDO
January 2009