Opera Proibita

1	Serafini al nostro canto,
2	Il giardino di rose: La S
3	Il trionfo del Tempo e de
4	Il Trionfo della Innocenz
5	La castità al cimento, or
6	Il Sedecia, re di Gerusal
7	Il trionfo del Tempo e de
8	Il giardino di rose: La S
9	San Filippo Neri, oratori
10	Il trionfo del Tempo e de
11	Il Sedecia, re di Gerusal
12	Oratorio per Santa France
13	Il Martirio di Santa Cate
14	La Resurrezione, oratorio
15	La Resurrezione, oratorio
Opera Proibita
1.	Serafini al nostro canto, cantata for 3 voices & instruments: Aria della Pace. All'arme ś accesi guerrieri 2:39
	Composed by Alessandro Scarlatti
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
2.	Il giardino di rose: La SS Vergine del Rosario, oratorio for soloists & orchestra: Aria della Speranza. Mentre io godo in dolce oblio 4:48
	Composed by Alessandro Scarlatti
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
3.	Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, oratorio, HWV 46a: Aria della Bellezza. Un pensiero nemico di pace 3:57
	Composed by George Frideric Handel
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
4.	Il Trionfo della Innocenza, oratorio: Aria di Santa Eugenia. Vanne pentita a piangere 8:49
	Composed by Antonio Caldara
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
5.	La castità al cimento, oratorio (Il Trionfo della Castità): Aria di Flavia. Sparga il senso lascivo veleno 2:59
	Composed by Antonio Caldara
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
6.	Il Sedecia, re di Gerusalemme, oratorio for soloists, chorus, instruments & continuo: Aria di Ismaele. Caldo sangue 5:31
	Composed by Alessandro Scarlatti
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
7.	Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, oratorio, HWV 46a: Aria del Piacere. Come nembo che fugge col vento 5:11
	Composed by George Frideric Handel
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
8.	Il giardino di rose: La SS Vergine del Rosario, oratorio for soloists & orchestra: Recitativo ed aria della Carità. Ecco negl'orti tu 2:15
	Composed by Alessandro Scarlatti
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
9.	San Filippo Neri, oratorio for soloists, trumpet, strings, lute & continuo: Recitativo ed aria della Carità. Qui resta...L'alt 4:15
	Composed by Alessandro Scarlatti
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
10.	Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, oratorio, HWV 46a: Aria del Piacere. Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa 5:58
	Composed by George Frideric Handel
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
11.	Il Sedecia, re di Gerusalemme, oratorio for soloists, chorus, instruments & continuo: Recitativo ed aria di Ismaele. Ahi! qual cordoglio 2:33
	Composed by Alessandro Scarlatti
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
12.	Oratorio per Santa Francesca Romana: Aria di Santa Francesca. Ś piangete pupille dolen 7:39
	Composed by Antonio Caldara
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
13.	Il Martirio di Santa Caterina, oratorio: Recitativo ed aria dell'Impertrice Faustina. Ahi q 3:08
	Composed by Antonio Caldara
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
14.	La Resurrezione, oratorio, HWV 47: Aria dell'Angelo. Disserratevi, o porte d'Averno 4:44
	Composed by George Frideric Handel
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt
15.	La Resurrezione, oratorio, HWV 47: Recitativo ed aria di Santa Maria Maddalena. Notte 7:29
	Composed by George Frideric Handel
	Conducted by Marc Minkowski
	Performed by Cecilia Bartoli, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Eric Bellocq, Eric Bellocq, Yasunori Imamura, Yasunori Imamura, Jory Vinikour, Jory Vinikour, Peter Hanson, Alice Pierot and Nils Wieboldt

Barnes & Noble

One of the traits that make Cecilia Bartoli a truly essential singer -- besides her glorious voice -- is her insatiable musical curiosity. It would be easy enough for the much-loved mezzo to keep recording the standard repertoire; instead, she digs deep into the works of composers like Vivaldi, Gluck, and Salieri (the subjects of her three previous albums) to unearth unappreciated and unknown gems. Opera Proibita is her most intriguing salvage mission yet, exploring a curious chapter in opera history -- the early 18th century in Rome, when the pope banned stage performances, forcing composers to find new outlets for musical drama and virtuoso singing. Most of these wonderful arias by Handel, Scarlatti, and the lesser-known Antonio Caldara come from oratorios, in which religious stories, usually from the Bible or the Christian martyrs' lives, were told in song, minus the visual appeal of the stage. This trade-off forced music to become even more expressive and dramatic than opera, to convey the stories without acting, pageantry, or lavish sets. But all of this would just be a history lesson without an artist of Bartoli's caliber to revive the music, much of it composed for castrati rather than women, and more than half of it recorded here for the first time. This intrepid singer dazzles with her vocal agility, especially when dueling with trumpets on Scarlatti's "L'alta Roma," but she alternates these brilliant displays with the ineffably beautiful sustained melodies that were another specialty of the Baroque era. It's almost too easy for a critic to heap superlative praise on Bartoli, so suffice it to say that Opera Proibita is arguably her most flawlessly satisfying recording to date, and a must for anyone who cares about the art of singing. Scott Paulin

All Music Guide

Cecilia Bartoli maintains a near-perfect mezzo-soprano instrument, which she patently refuses to expose to material that might damage it; never will we hear Bartoli in voice-destroying roles such as Carmen nor in heavyweight mezzo parts such as those encountered in Wagner's "Ring" cycle. Even though she is a "mainstream" classical artist, the most "modern" composer she has recorded is Pauline Viardot, and even the Decca releases that established her as a star stick to composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Rossini. Bartoli eschews powerful vocal production in favor of greater flexibility, an ideal match for Baroque and Classical literature. Although one would not have pegged Bartoli as an "early music specialist" based on her earlier recordings, clearly she has found a place as an expert interpreter of such music. In Opera Proibita, where she is accompanied by the redoubtable Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre, it is hard to imagine anyone doing better in this material, over half of it never before recorded.

Opera Proibita restricts itself to a brief period in the early eighteenth century when opera was temporarily banned, owing to its alleged fostering of lewd and lascivious behavior in Italian society. During this time, composers adapted by writing highly operatic passages for the still legal form of oratorio, or developing formats such as the "Introduzione," a highly florid kind of introduction to the Latin mass that was eventually likewise struck down by the church. Although these recitatives and arias from oratorios are taken from composers ranging from George Frideric Handel and Alessandro Scarlatti to Antonio Caldara and are presented apart from the works from which they belong, there is a certain unanimity of style among them. Opera Proibita is sequenced for emotional impact rather than in a historical context, which makes for good listening even if one isn't able to keep straight who wrote what -- in this case, it almost doesn't make a difference. Bartoli is clearly the star of the show, imbuing Scarlatti's recitative and aria combo "Ahi! Qual cordoglio...Doppio affetto" with a blend of piety, drama, and pathos. Her sense of pitch, even in rapid fire passages of stuttering sixteenth notes, is unfailingly true; just listen to how the voice interacts with the oboes in Handel's "Disserratavi, o porte d'Averno." Bartoli almost seems more in tune than the oboes do.

Opera Proibita contains a fair amount of the fireworks expected by fans familiar with her Vivaldi disc with Il Giardino Armonico; however, far more time is spent in reflective, pious, and calm music that is very easy on the ears. As always, Bartoli sounds fabulous here, and Opera Proibita will prove immensely satisfying to any listener who has an appreciation for the capabilities of the human voice as an instrument. Uncle Dave Lewis

New York Times

Bartoli makes music sizzle. Something is always happening when she sings.... Her coloratura is fierce, passionate, even alarming. Anne Midgette

Gramophone

[November 2005 CD of the Month] A veritable treasure trove.... Bartoli's extrovert singing finds an ideal partner in Marc Minkowski's characteristically extreme direction. David Vickers

San Jose Mercury News

Remarkable.... [The music] is surging, noble and even erotic, as well as highly ornate and demandingly virtuosic. Bartoli's performances of these arias...are dazzling. Richard Scheinin