Bellezza Crudel - Vivaldi Tone Wik & Barokkanerne

• 1Cantata Rv 679: Che Giova Il Sospirar, Povero Core - Recitativo I00:57
• 2Cantata Rv 679: Che Giova Il Sospirar, Povero Core - Aria: Nell'aspro Tuo Periglio05:46
• 3Cantata Rv 679: Che Giova Il Sospirar, Povero Core - Recitativo II00:43
• 4Cantata Rv 679: Che Giova Il Sospirar, Povero Core - Aria: Cupido, Tu Vedi03:24
• 5Cantata Rv 660: La Farfalletta S'aggira Al Lume - Aria: La Farfalletta S'aggira Al Lume05:01
• 6Cantata Rv 660: La Farfalletta S'aggira Al Lume - Recitativo01:04
• 7Cantata Rv 660: La Farfalletta S'aggira Al Lume - Aria: Vedro Con Nero Velo06:06
• 8Concerto Rv 484: in Mi Minore, Per Fagotto, Archi E Basso Continuo - Allegro Poco04:12
• 9Concerto Rv 484: in Mi Minore, Per Fagotto, Archi E Basso Continuo - Andante03:09
• 10Concerto Rv 484: in Mi Minore, Per Fagotto, Archi E Basso Continuo - Allegro02:58
• 11Cantata Rv 664: Se Ben Vivono Senz'alma - Aria: Se Ben Vivono Senz' Alma05:54
• 12Cantata Rv 664: Se Ben Vivono Senz'alma - Recitativo00:56
• 13Cantata Rv 664: Se Ben Vivono Senz'alma - Aria: Nella Tua Guancia Amorosa03:52
• 14Concerto Rv 441: in Do Minore, Per Flauto, Archi E Basso Continuo - Allegro Non Molto04:33
• 15Concerto Rv 441: in Do Minore, Per Flauto, Archi E Basso Continuo - Largo02:20
• 16Concerto Rv 441: in Do Minore, Per Flauto, Archi E Basso Continuo - Untitled03:20
• 17Cantata Rv 678: All'ombra Di Sospetto - Recitativo I00:26
• 18Cantata Rv 678: All'ombra Di Sospetto - Aria: Avezzo Non E Il Core04:41
• 19Cantata Rv 678 All'ombra Di Sospetto - Recitativo II00:52
• 20Cantata Rv 678: All'ombra Di Sospetto - Aria: Mentiti Contenti03:50
• Total Runtime01:04:04

Info for Bellezza Crudel - Vivaldi

This is a marvellous album and a real feast of delights for lovers of Vivaldi’s vocal and instrumental music.
The four short Cantatas recorded here are interspersed with two of Vivaldi’s many concertos, one for bassoon (RV484) and the other for flute, played here on the alto recorder (RV441).
The soloist in the Cantatas is the soprano Tone Wik who specialises in music of this period. She possesses an ideal vocal timbre for these pieces. Her pure, bright tone and even production across the whole range is combined with appealing warmth. In addition, her voice has ‘personality’, something that is often missing from other singers in this repertoire, where character is replaced by a sterile ‘whiteness’ that robs the music of vibrancy and life.

Each of the Cantatas is a gem. The texts are full of wonderful 18th century ‘conceits’, while Vivaldi’s often florid music presents huge challenges to even the most gifted performer. Whilst Tone Wik negotiates these challenges with ease, for example in the rapid second aria of Cantata RV697 (Track 4), very occasionally elsewhere some of her diction was slightly vague. The excellent Barokkanerne, a Norwegian ensemble formed in 1989 comprising a group of musicians who have a specialist interest in Baroque music, plays all the accompaniments with unfailing alertness and style.
In the concertos, the woody sounding bassoon of Per Hannisdal gives much pleasure, while Alexandra Opsahl’s virtuoso playing of the recorder in the outer movements of RV441 is quite astonishing.
The sense of the listener being present with the musicians is almost uncanny, particularly when listening to the surround sound layer. The recording venue of Jar Church provides an intimate yet warm acoustic, one in which every vocal and instrumental line is crystal clear. Presentation is of the usual uniformly high standard, with the Italian texts and translations in English and Norwegian provided, as well as detailed notes on the music and the performers. An unqualified top recommendation. (SA-CD.net)

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Cantate RV 679, 660, 664, 678 (soprano) / Concerti RV 484 (bassoon), 441 (flute)

“The cantatas are sung by Tone Wik, a Norwegian soprano with a pretty and characterful voice strongly reminiscent at time of the young Emma Kirkby… The instrumental playing from Barokkanerne…of a fine standard, as is that of the nimble concerto soloists; it is a real pleasure to hear Vivaldi's plangent E minor Bassoon Concerto performed with solo strings offering such ardently immediate support.” (GRAMOPHONE, 2009)

Tone Wik (soprano)
Barokkanerne (period instruments orchestra)
Per Hannisdal (bassoon)
Alexandra Opsahl (recorder)

Tone Wik (Soprano), Born: Oslo, Norway

The Norwegian soprano, Tone (Margaret) Wik, started singing at the age of 7 in the Norwegian Broadcasting Girls Choir under the conductor Marie Foss. There, particular attention was given to intonation and quality of sound, and years of rehearsals and concerts laid the foundation of her musical education. Having finished her studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Oslo Conservatory of Music, she developed an interest in early music. This repertoire, with its demands for technical virtuosity and almost instrumental clarity of sound, suited her perfectly. She then went on to complete graduate studies in baroque singing at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, Netherlands.
Since then, Tone Wik has performed both chamber and church repertoire. She has appeared as a soloist with many distinguished early music conductors and muscians such as Andrew Manze, Joshua Rifkin, Andrew Parrott, Harry Christophers, Edward Higginbottom, Ketil Haugsand, Shalev Ad-El, Ronald Brautigam and Ryo Terakado and has performed with internationally acclaimed early music ensembles such as Concerto Copenhagen, The Bach Ensemble New York, Il Gardellino, Barokkanerne, Norsk Barokkorkester (the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra) and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in many recordings and has performed on radio and television in many European countries. She has sung in many Bach concerts, including several cantatas, oratorios, etc., like the B-minor Mass (BWV 232) on a tour with Joshua Rifkin some years ago.
Tone Wik has also participated in many international festivals including Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge, Festival Musica Antica, Händelfestspiele in Halle, Barockfest Münster, Israel Festival, Brezice Festival, Musicantica Trento, Stockholm Early Music Festival, Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Northlands Festival, Bergen International Festival and Ultima Festival. In 2002 and 2003, she performed the role of the Israeli Woman in Georg Frideric Handel’s oratorio Esther in New York, and received critical acclaim in The New York Times.
In 2003, her first solo CD, “Dolcissimo Sospiro”* of Italian music from the early 17th century and the contemporary piece “Rinuccini” by Ron Ford was critically acclaimed in both the Norwegian and the international press. 'Her clean pitch allows for delightful wonderfully agile and accurate runs' (Metropolitan Opera News, USA, August 2004); 'She is really terrific in the light, fast lilting numbers' (BBC Music Magazine, England, May 2004); “…the CD is from its beginning to its end a feast for the ears, thanks to Tone Wik, with a voice that makes you melt away. (de Volkskrant, Netherlands, September 2004)
Tone Wik is also an active teacher and choir conductor, and is a founding member of the vocal ensemble Oslo Baroque Soloists, which consists of well-established singers from both Norway and Scandinavia. She has also given regular master-classes and has taught baroque singing at both the Norwegian Academy of Music and ensemble didactics at the Barratt Due Institute of Music and has given master-classes abroad such as at the Scandinavian Bach Academy in Örebro, Sweden. In 2008 her new CD 'Bellezza Crudel' with the orchestra 'Barokkanerne' was released.

Alexandra Opsahl(cornetto and recorder)
studied recorder with Svein Egil Skotte at the Barratt Due Institute, Oslo, before coming to London in 2000 to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Peter Holtslag and Daniel Bruggen. While at the Academy, she won a number of competitions, most notably the Moeck/SRP Solo Recorder Competition in 2003, as well as the Friends of the RAM Early Music Prize in 2001 and 2003. She was also a semi-finalist and received Honourable Mention at the 2005 Brugge Early Music Soloists Competition.

At the Academy she co-founded the ensemble Lupo with Ian Pritchard, which specializes in 17th-century Italian instrumental music. Graduating with first class honours, she went on to receive a Norwegian Performing Arts Scholarship to study 17th-century repertoire in Bologna, also taking private cornetto lessons with Bruce Dickey. She performs frequently across Europe and the U.S., and has, within in the UK, appeared in the Globe, and at the Aldeburgh Festival, Glyndebourne, the Spitalfields Festival, the Chester Festival, and the Tilford Bach Festival. She has also performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of Ton Koopman. She has recently recorded with the Italian early music ensemble Cappella Artemisia (Tactus), and the Vivaldi C-Minor recorder concerto with the Norwegian ensemble the Barokkanerne.

From 2006 - 2008 she was a student at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she pursued historical brass studies with Bruce Dickey and Charles Toet. She is currently pursuing her Master's in Early Music at USC.

Booklet for Bellezza Crudel - Vivaldi