Gluck Arias Ann Hallenberg, The Mozartists & Ian Page

• Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 - 1787): Il trionfo di Clelia, Wq. 31, Act I Scene V:
• 1 Gluck: Il trionfo di Clelia, Wq. 31, Act I Scene V: Aria. Resta, o cara (Orazio) 09:15
• Paride ed Elena, Wq. 39, Act I Scene II:
• 2 Gluck: Paride ed Elena, Wq. 39, Act I Scene II: O del mio dolce ardor (Paride) 03:08
• Ipermestra, Wq. 7, Act I Scene XI:
• 3 Gluck: Ipermestra, Wq. 7, Act I Scene XI: Recitativo. No, che torni sì presto (Linceo) 00:16
• 4 Gluck: Ipermestra, Wq. 7, Act I Scene XI: Aria. Io non pretendo, o stelle (Linceo) 06:25
• Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. 30, Act II Scene II (1762 Version):
• 5 Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. 30, Act II Scene II (1762 Version): Dance of the Blessed Spirits 01:49
• Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. 30, Scene IV (1769 Version):
• 6 Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. 30, Scene IV (1769 Version): Recitativo. Che puro ciel (Orfeo) 05:45
• Ezio, Wq. 15, Act III Scene X (1750 Version):
• 7 Gluck: Ezio, Wq. 15, Act III Scene X (1750 Version): Recitativo. Misera, dove son! (Fulvia) 02:14
• 8 Gluck: Ezio, Wq. 15, Act III Scene X (1750 Version): Aria. Ah, non son io che parlo (Fulvia) 04:40
• Il trionfo di Clelia, Wq. 31, Act I Scene X:
• 9 Gluck: Il trionfo di Clelia, Wq. 31, Act I Scene X: Aria. Saper ti basti, o cara (Orazio) 09:41
• Il Parnaso confuso, Wq. 33:
• 10 Gluck: Il Parnaso confuso, Wq. 33: Aria. Di questa cetra in seno (Erato) 04:49
• La Semiramide riconosciuta, Wq. 13, Act I Scene VI:
• 11 Gluck: La Semiramide riconosciuta, Wq. 13, Act I Scene VI: Aria. Maggior follia non v’è (Ircano) 08:02
• Le nozze d’Ercole e d’Ebe, Wq. 12:
• 12 Gluck: Le nozze d’Ercole e d’Ebe, Wq. 12: Aria. L’augellin da’ lacci sciolto (Ebe) 07:00
• Il trionfo di Clelia, Wq. 31, Act III Scene VIII:
• 13 Gluck: Il trionfo di Clelia, Wq. 31, Act III Scene VIII: Aria. De’ folgori di Giove (Orzio) 07:22
• Total Runtime 01:10:26

Info for Gluck Arias

The celebrated Swedish mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg is a two-time winner of the ‘Best Operatic Recital’ Award at the International Opera Awards, while Ian Page’s previous Gluck recording with The Mozartists (‘Blessed Spirit – a Gluck retrospective’) was selected by Gramophone magazine among the top 10 Gluck recordings of all time. Following previous partnerships in the opera house and the concert hall, Hallenberg and Page are now collaborating in the recording studio for the first time on a new recital disc of Gluck arias. The backbone of the programme is provided by three arias from Il trionfo di Clelia (Bologna, 1763) that were written for the renowned castrato Giovanni Manzuoli (1720-1782) – one of the greatest singers of his day – and the album also includes previously unrecorded arias from Ipermestra (Venice, 1744 and Le nozze d’Ercole e d’Ebe (Dresden, 1747). Also featured is Gluck’s revised version of the exquisite “Che puro ciel” from Orfeo ed Euridice (written for Parma in 1769), and the popular “O del mio dolce ardor” from the last of the composer’s three so-called ‘reform’ operas, Paride ed Elena. "In an age where so much music of the past is being explored and made available, Gluck nevertheless remains one of the most neglected and undervalued of the great composers, a name that continues to crop up more often in textbooks than in opera houses or concert halls. We very much hope that you will find this music to be of far more than merely historical interest, and that you enjoy listening to this recording." (Ian Page)

“Everything The Mozartists puts on will be worth seeking out.” (The Arts Desk)

“Conductor, instrumentalists and singers alike, mirroring Gluck’s reformist aims from the 1760’s onwards, make the sound the servant of the sense, with stylish, eloquent and dramatic music-making of the highest order.” (International Record Review)

“Page and his players once again demonstrate their total identification with this music in playing of dizzying drive and accuracy.” (Gramophone)

Ann Hallenberg, mezzo-soprano
The Mozartists
Ian Page, conductor

Ann Hallenberg
appears regularly in the world’s major opera houses and festivals, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Real in Madrid, Theater an der Wien, Opéra National de Paris, Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels, Bayerische Staatsoper München, Staatsoper Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival. Her operatic repertoire includes a large number of roles in operas by Rossini, Mozart, Gluck, Handel, Vivaldi, Monteverdi, Purcell, Bizet and Massenet.

Throughout her career she has specialised in Baroque music, and her other repertoire includes Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Été, La Damnation de Faust and L’enfance du Christ, Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, Kindertotenlieder and Das Lied von der Erde, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, Beethoven‘s Missa Solemnis and Symphony No 9 and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius.

She has worked regularly with such conductors such as Fabio Biondi, William Christie, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Emmanuelle Haïm, Daniel Harding, Marc Minkowski, Riccardo Muti, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Antonio Pappano and Christophe Rousset, and with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. She has also enjoyed long-term partnerships with the ensembles such as Les Talens Lyriques, Il Complesso Barocco, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Europa Galante, and in 2019 she was name Artist in Residence at Drottningholm, where she sang the title roles in Handel’s Ariodante and Agrippina. In 2021 she was appointed a Royal Court Singer by the King of Sweden, and in 2022 she became a Member of the Swedish Academy of Music.

Ann has recorded more than forty CDs and DVDs, and has twice won the award for ‘Best Operatic Recital’ at the International Opera Awards.

The Mozartists
under the dynamic leadership of conductor and artistic director Ian Page, are leading exponents of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries. Originally called Classical Opera, the company was founded in 1997, and has received widespread international acclaim for its stylish and virtuosic period-instrument orchestra, its imaginative and innovative programming, and its ability to nurture and develop world-class young artists.

The Mozartists have a prolific recording profile, and perform regularly at the UK’s leading venues, including Wigmore Hall, the Barbican, Southbank Centre and Birmingham Town Hall; they have also toured to Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Greece and the Czech Republic. Renowned for their fresh and insightful interpretations of well-known masterpieces as well as for their ability to bring rare works to light, they have mounted staged productions of many of Mozart’s operas, and have also given numerous UK premières, including Gluck’s La clemenza di Tito, Telemann’s Orpheus, Jommelli’s Il Vologeso, Haydn’s Applausus and Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe.

In 2015 the company launched MOZART 250, a ground-breaking 27-year project exploring the chronological trajectory of Mozart’s life, works and influences. Described by The Observer as “among the most audacious classical music scheduling ever”, this flagship project presents 250thanniversary performances of most of Mozart’s important works, placing them in context alongside other significant works by Mozart’s contemporaries.

Page and his ensemble are also celebrated for their studio recordings. Their first two recordings – ‘The A-Z of Mozart Opera’ and ‘Blessed Spirit – a Gluck retrospective’ – were both selected for Gramophone’s annual Critics’ Choice, and the first seven releases in their ongoing recording cycle of the complete Mozart operas have attracted superlative reviews. Further recordings include the acclaimed 2-CD set ‘Mozart in London’ and recital discs featuring tenor Allan Clayton (‘Where’er You Walk’) and soprano Sophie Bevan (‘Perfido!’), both of which were shortlisted for the International Opera Awards. They recently released the first three volumes in a new ‘Sturm und Drang’ series.

Ian Page
is the founder, conductor and artistic director of Classical Opera, and is emerging as one of the leading British conductors of his generation. He began his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and studied English Literature at the University of York before completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the start of his career he worked on the music staff at Scottish Opera, Opera Factory, Glyndebourne and the Drottningholm Slottsteater in Sweden, working with such conductors as Sir Alexander Gibson, Nicholas McGegan, Mark Wigglesworth, Ivor Bolton and Sir Charles Mackerras.

With Classical Opera he has conducted most of Mozart’s early operas, including the world première of the ‘original’ version of Mitridate, re di Ponto and a new completion of Zaide, as well as Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte and La clemenza di Tito. He has also conducted the UK premières of Gluck’s La clemenza di Tito, Telemann’s Orpheus and Jommelli’s Il Vologeso, as well as the first new staging for 250 years of Johann Christian Bach’s Adriano in Siria. In 2009 he made his Royal Opera House début conducting Arne’s Artaxerxes at the Linbury Studio Theatre, and his studio recording of the work was released in 2011 on Linn Records.

He devised and conducted Classical Opera’s recordings of ‘The A-Z of Mozart Opera’ (Signum Classics) and ‘Blessed Spirit – a Gluck retrospective’ (Wigmore Hall Live), both of which were selected for Gramophone magazine’s annual Critic’s Choice, and he recently embarked on an acclaimed new complete cycle of Mozart opera recordings with Classical Opera. He has also created and devised MOZART 250, Classical Opera’s ambitious 27-year journey through Mozart’s music and influences, which was launched in London in 2015.

Booklet for Gluck Arias