For his new aria recital for Pan Classics, countertenor Filippo Mineccia teams up with the young Spanish ensemble, Nereydas, directed by Javier Ulises Illan. The chosen repertoire, a selection of arias for alto by Niccolo Jommelli, aims at making clear the importance of this composer in the history of Italian opera, and especially in the early days of Classicism. It is bright, delicate and sensitive music, combining, in the word of scholar Marita P. McClymonds, “German complexity, French decorative elements and Italian brio, welded together by an extraordinary gift for dramatic effectiveness.” This release is a fantastic demonstration of this command of vocal writing, as found equally in the composer’s operas and oratorios, and a new illustration of Filippo Mineccia’s breathtaking vocal abilities, which have already put him among the leading countertenors of our days.
