A recent release reviewed

GLUCK: L'INNOCENZA GIUSTIFICATA
Soloists: Bayo, Cangemi, Karasiak, Liso; ChorWerk Ruhr; Cappella Coloniensis; direction: Christopher Moulds. DHM(BMG) 82876 58796
***

This is something of a rarity but nonetheless welcome for that. Written by Gluck in 1755, some years before his great reforming masterpiece Orfeo ed Euridice, it is cast in the form of a festa teatrale. This was an alternative, simpler genre to the formal conventions of opera seria, literally serious opera, which governed most operas performed at this time. The elementary plot deals with a Roman vestal virgin, unjustly condemned to death, who proves her innocence with a miraculous deed. Although at this time much of Gluck's music was still being written to showcase the singer's agility, there are some powerful scenes in this work. With some lovely singing, particularly from Maria Bayo as the Vestal virgin and Veronica Cangemi as the Roman knight, these discs are well worth investigating. www.bmgclassics.de

Colman Morrissey