Average Rating: (5 out of 5 stars)
List All Reviews Vivaldi's L'Olmpiade
This 3-disc album is a magnificent production of Vivaldi's opera. The work was based on a libretto by Pietro Metastasio and was first performed, with great success, at Venice in February 1734. L'Olimpiade is a sparkling and ebullient composition. The work is another of Vivaldi's operatic masterpieces that has come to light in recent years. The various performances are all superb. Conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini leads the Concerto Italiano with unmatched verve and brio, while the solists' voices carry the music to enchanting heights. The soprano Laura Giordano, in the role of Arminta, especially gives a stellar performance; her expressive, passionate singing resonates with an evocative beauty, elevating Vivaldi's music to a marvelous euphony of sound. My only criticism lies in the lack of editing of the score. The work is weighed down by frequent and sometimes quite lengthy recitatives. These dull, unmusical interludes should have been cut completely from the performance, thereby giving the listener a continuously exciting 2-CD set instead of the intermittently thrilling 3-CD set. Nonetheless, I highly recommend this production. It is Vivaldi at his best, which means baroque music at its best.
Submitted by jerroldhk (Bronx, NY) 
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