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found another wee crumb of graun rodelinda- not wee, actually, because it's an entire scene(!!!) but! act 1 scene 6, on jochen kowalski's recital album, "arias from berlin's operatic history." not too fond of the level of vibrato in the accompagnato, but i love how the inscription on the monument is 🗣️ READ REALLY LOUDLY! WITH INSTRUMENTAL STINGS! FOR EMPHASIS!
63 Opera Arias
As a general sort of rule, I’m not super into countertenors, and prefer roles like Giulio Cesare or Orfeo to be sung by mezzos, so it’s a bit of a mystery where or when or how I became a low key fan of Jochen Kowalski. I suspect it may have had something to do with Die Fledermaus - Kowalski has been one of the few countertenors to successfully take on the Russian count and make it his own.
Kowalski was a native of DDR, and has recorded quite a bit for German labels; much of his output is typical countertenor fare - baroque sacred music and opera, German song, with some slightly ill-judged lounge classics thrown in the mix (I guess he had fun and got paid). These days if I want myself some Kowalski, I tend to head to Youtube, as he is actually a very charismatic stage animal, and entertaining to watch; this album is very accomplished and the selection of music is well thought through, but as a whole a bit, erm, dull. Which betrays the reason why I prefer mezzos for the same repertoire - countertenors to my ear have fewer colours in their arsenal, and while they, including Kowalski, have a lot of power and strength, the 11 tracks of this all sound a bit samey, which may also be the fault of the conductor, who doesn’t bring many stylistic variations to the table. Spotify played after this from Kowalski’s Handel album, recorded with a chamber orchestra specialising on baroque, and it made for a whole lot better, more interesting listening, and I really recommend that over this.
Favourite track: Kowalski’s voice is substantially better suited to the baroque repertoire than it is to Mozart or Rossini, so I’ll pick no. 2, J’ai perdu mon Eurydice, and no. 3, Cara sposa, amante cara, dove sei? - he probably makes them sound as close to the original as is possible for a countertenor.
Opera Arias Jochen Kowalski, countertenor Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Heinz Fricke, conductor
Per la gloria from Bononcini's Griselda, sung by Jochen Kowalski.
Son reo, l'error confesso from Mozart's Mitridate, sung by Jochen Kowalski.
Va, l'error mio palesa from Mozart's Mitridate, sung by Jochen Kowalski.
Vivaldi's Deus tuorum militum (RV.612) with Jochen Kowalski, Nico van der Meel and the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra.
Chi mi chiama alla gloria ... Se parla nel mio cor from Handel's Giustino, sung by Jochen Kowalski.
Lieto suono di trombe guerriere from Telemann's Flavius Bertaridus, sung by Jochen Kowalski.
