EVENINGS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC - BAHRAIN - |
PROGRAMME FOR 18 DECEMBER 2002 |
CECILIA BARTOLI Live in Italy |
Looking down from the Berici Hills on Vicenza, the observer witnesses a cityscape notably uniform in style, free of high-rise buildings, exquisitely crafted from local marble and delicate ochre brickwork. The compact Northern Italian city owes its world-renowned architectural legacy to Andrea Palladio, one of the great names in Renaissance building and certainly its most influential exponent. His buildings for Vicenza were conceived as if part of a vast theatre set, with public spaces, palaces, churches, loggias and private villas embracing the drama and intrigues of a prosperous sixteenth-century community. In February 1580 the city's cultured Accademia Olimpica was granted permission to build a permanent theatre on the site of the old arsenal. The elderly Palladio drafted plans for a triumphal arch proscenium, punctuated by one central and two lesser openings, a narrow stage and an elliptical auditorium. Although the architect died before completion of the Teatro Olimpico in 1584, his designs were adapted and executed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, who added ingenious perspective "streets" in imitation of ancient Thebes. Life-sized statues of the academicians, trompe-l'oeil decorations, bas-reliefs and paintings add to the theatre's visual splendour, while stucco, marble and wood building materials govern its fine acoustics. The sky-blue ceiling and painted clouds contribute to the outdoor illusion of what is now considered to be the world's oldest surviving covered theatre. According to Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, Palladio's work "combines the gravity of Rome with the sunny breadth of Northern Italy and an entirely personal ease not achieved by any of his contemporaries". The observation might equally apply to the art of Cecilia Bartoli, whose remarkable vocal qualities, technical control and musicianship are such that she is able to express the widest emotional range, from profound despair to extreme joy, and always reach the hearts of her audience. It was Bartoli's wish to perform in one of the great treasures of Italy's cultural heritage that led to her recital in the Teatro Olimpico, an occasion that highlighted the beauty of Palladio's architectural masterpiece and encouraged a suitably virtuosic display from the mezzo-soprano, the pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the early music ensemble Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca. The 110 minute programme includes works by Caccini, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Giordani, Montsalvatge and Bizet. Directed for video by Brian Large |
