8 December 2007
Making Juditha
Making Juditha
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Making Juditha is a musical journey from Venice's Grand Canal to George Street in Sydney. The destination is the first professional staging in Australia of the work with the reputation of being Vivaldi's 'best opera'. Juditha Triumphans is strictly speaking an oratorio, but richly endowed with drama. Jennifer Bowen uncovers the thoughts of musicians, singers and designers as they travel through rehearsals to opening night under the baton of Maestro Attilio Cremonesi.
For Pinchgut Opera, the production process has taken over a year, and brings together music specialists from across Australia and overseas for whom the playing of baroque music is a pleasure both of the heart and the mind.
The work was commissioned in 1716, to be performed by an all-female cast and orchestra at the extraordinary girls' orphanage where Vivaldi worked for much of his life. The Pieta had a Europe-wide reputation for its high standard of music making, and the work calls on performers with specialist training in baroque performance.
Juditha Triumphans tells the story of Judith, a beautiful widow who saves her townspeople from destruction by cutting off the head of Holofernes, leader of the invading Assyrian army. It's a theme that has fascinated many painters, and it is in terms of colour that much of Vivaldi's score is described. It is written for a highly unusual array of instruments that display Vivaldi's imagination and inventiveness to the full.
You can hear an extended interview with viola player Nicole Forsyth on the delights of playing a baroque instrument.
The program includes excerpts from the Hyperion recording of Juditha Triumphans with Ann Murray in the role of Juditha, the King's Consort, the choir of the King's Consort and conductor Robert King (Hyperion CDA 67281/1).
Extra audio
Listen to or download an interview with Nicole Forsyth, principal viola player for Pinchgut Opera's production of Juditha Triumphans. Playing a baroque instrument has been a journey of discovery into a new sound world; she describes here how she holds, tunes and warms up on the baroque viola.
Download mp3 [dur: 14:14 - 13.2MB]
Production
Producer, Jennifer Bowen
Sound engineer, Philip Ulman
Participants
Mark Gaal, director
Attilio Cremonesi, conductor
Anna MacDonald, baroque violin, leader of the orchestra
Nicole Forsyth, baroque viola
Danny Yeadon, baroque cello and viol de gamba
Miriam Morris, viol de gamba
Matthew Ridley, recorder
Leanne Sullivan, baroque trumpet. Leanne is principal trumpet with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
Craig Hill, chamuleau and baroque clarinet. Craig is a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Sally-Anne Russell, mezzo soprano, singing the role of Juditha
David Walker, counter tenor, singing the role of Holofernes
Natalie Shea, translator of the libretto
Hamish Peters, designer
Andrew Johnson, production manager Pinchgut Opera
Liz Nielsen, chair Pinchgut Opera
Music Details
Work: Concerto for two cellos in G minor, RV 531
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Maurizio Naddeo, Antonio Fantinuola cellos; Europe Galante, Fabio Biondi director
Track title: 23 Allegro
Label: Virgin
CD number: 7243 5 45424 2 8
Duration: 53"
Work: Juditha Triumphans, Arma caedes
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Pinchgut Opera chorus
ABC recording made during rehearsal November 2007
Duration: 1'07"
Work: Concerto in C minor RV 441 for recorder
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Dan Laurin, recorder; Drottingholm Baroque Ensemble
Track: 1 Allegro non molto
Label: Brilliant classics
CD number: 92435/4
Duration: 30"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 25 Veni, veni, me sequere fida
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 1'18"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 23 O servi, volate
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 50"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 3 Arma, caedes, vindicate, furores
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 1'40"
Work: Concerto in C minor RV 441 for recorder
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Dan Laurin, recorder; Drottingholm Baroque Ensemble
Track: 1 Allegro non molto
Label: Brilliant classics
CD number: 92435/4
Duration: 1'20"
Demonstration of baroque recorder by Matthew Ridley
ABC recording at the Sydney Conservatorium, November 2007
Duration: 38"
Work: Excerpt from Concerto for recorder, opus 10 number 6 by Vivaldi
Performer: Matthew Ridley, recorder
Private recording at the Sydney Conservatorium, November 2007
Duration: 36"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 17, Quanto magis generosa
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 57"
Work: Concerto for two cellos in G minor, RV 531
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Maurizio Naddeo, Antonio Fantinuola cellos; Europe Galante, Fabio Biondi director
Track title: 24, Largo
Label: Virgin
CD number: 7243 5 45424 2 8
Duration: 1'26"
Demonstration of viol de gamba by Miriam Morris,
private recording in Sydney November 2007
Duration: 1'48"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Susan Bickley (Holofernes), King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 16, Quid cerno
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 1'26"
Work: Concerto for two cellos in G minor, RV 531
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Maurizio Naddeo, Antonio Fantinuola cellos; Europe Galante, Fabio Biondi director
Track title: 25, Allegro 3rd movement
Label: Virgin
CD number: 7243 5 45424 2 8
Duration: 1'18"
Demonstration of baroque viola playing Nicole Forsyth
Private recording in Sydney, November 2007
Dur: 1'19"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: The Choir of the King's Consort; King's Consort, Robert King, conductor
Track title: 11, Plena Nectare non mero
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 2
Duration: 1'22"
Demonstration of baroque trumpet playing by Leanne Sullivan
Private recording in Sydney, November 2007
Dur: 1'17"
Demonstration of baroque bow strokes by Nicole Forsyth
Private recording in Sydney, November 2007
Dur: 1'30"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 1 Sinfonia RV 555 Allegro
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 1'35"
Excerpt from Juditha Triumphans by Vivaldi during rehearsal by Pinchgut Opera
Private recording in Sydney November 2007,
Duration: 39"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 9, Quo cum Patriae me ducit amore
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 1'51"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 25, Veni, veni me sequere fida
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 57"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 7, Transit aetas
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 2
Duration: 32"
Demonstration of baroque violin playing by Anna McDonald,
Private recording in Sydney November 2007,
Duration: 57"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 21, Agitata infido flatu
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 1'228"
Excerpt from Quanto magis generosa, from 'Juditha Triumphans' by Vivaldi
Played by Anna McDonald to demonstrate lead mute
Private recording in Sydney, November 2007,
Duration: 15"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 17, Quanto magis generosa
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 1
Duration: 56"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Susan Buckley (Holofernes) King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 9, Noli, o cara, te adorantis
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 2
Duration: 2'09"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 15 Umbrae carae, aurae adoratae
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 2
Duration: 1'02"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Ann Murray (Juditha), King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 21, Impii indigni Tiranni
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 2
Duration: 37"
CD Title: Juditha Triumphans
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Ann Murray (Juditha), King's Consort; Robert King, conductor
Track title: 20, In sumno profundo
Label: Hyperion
CD number: CDA 6728 2
Duration: 43"
Work: Juditha Triumphans Salve, invicta Juditha, formosa
Composer: Vivaldi
Performer: Pinchgut opera chorus
Private recording during rehearsal in Sydney, November 2007
Duration: 1'15"
Into The Music