もう一人のクレオパトラ

アルメニア系カナダ人ソプラノ歌手が歴史的ヒロインを華やかに熱唱

あの有名なクレオパトラの他にもう一人のクレオパトラがいました。アルメニア王ティグラーネと結婚し、ともにカスピ海から地中海にわたるアルメニア王国を築いたクレオパトラです。アルメニア系カナダ人ソプラノ歌手イザベル・バイラクダリアンの華やかな声はクレオパトラ役にぴったり合い、ティグラーネ王とクレオパトラの珍しい3つのオペラのアリアを情熱的にドラマティックに歌い上げています。バロックの巨匠アドルフ・ハッセによる『ティグラーネ』のアリアの歌唱も素晴らしいですが、ヴィヴァルディとグルックのアリアではさらにアルバムに高揚感をもたらします。バイラクダリアンをサポートするのは、グラミー賞ノミネートのコンスタンティン・オルベリアンとカウナス市交響楽団、そして同じくグラミー賞ノミネートのチェンバロ奏者ジョリー・ヴィニクールです。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian has sung conventional operatic repertory, and also music connected to her Armenian heritage. Here, she seeks to combine the two, performing operatic arias connected with the Armenian King Tigrane/Tigranes II and embodying the role of his queen, Cleopatra. This was not the Egyptian queen but Cleopatra of Pontus (110-58 B.C.E.), the other Cleopatra of the album title. Bayrakdarian sings arias from three Tigrane/Cleopatra operas, one by Vivaldi (1724), one by Johann Adolf Hasse (1729), and one the young Gluck (1743). Hasse is placed first, probably because he gets the lions share of the music on the album, but it might have been useful to place the arias in chronological order. Although the three operas were premiered in different cities (Rome, Naples, and Milan, respectively), they all use the same libretto, and its entirely possible that the earlier ones were known to the later composers. Although only 19 years separate Vivaldi from Gluck, those two decades were a period of intense stylistic change, and Bayrakdarian has to negotiate the shift from the athletic Vivaldi to the more naturalistic style of Gluck, with Hasse right in the middle. This she generally does well, although her somewhat edgy voice works better in the Vivaldi. The strength of the album is the program, which is original, and which exposes some worthwhile music. The Hasse is especially strong, and the roots of the mature Glucks style are audible in the three Gluck selections. Lovers of mid-18th century opera will want this in their collections.