The Mozart aria recital is almost de rigueur for young singers, but Dutch soprano Lenneke Ruiten manages to produce one that's promising and distinctive here. Aside from the sacred aria Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165, none of the standard items are here. The contents otherwise aren't exactly rarities, but they're not heard every day and they're intelligent selections for Ruiten's drama-oriented voice. Her comments in the booklet call them concert arias, which isn't exactly correct; actually, most of them are what's known as ...
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The Mozart aria recital is almost de rigueur for young singers, but Dutch soprano Lenneke Ruiten manages to produce one that's promising and distinctive here. Aside from the sacred aria Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165, none of the standard items are here. The contents otherwise aren't exactly rarities, but they're not heard every day and they're intelligent selections for Ruiten's drama-oriented voice. Her comments in the booklet call them concert arias, which isn't exactly correct; actually, most of them are what's known as insertion arias, written by Mozart for sopranos who wanted to turbocharge their parts in operas by other composers. The opening Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio, K. 418, for example, was written for addition to Pasquale Anfossi's Il curioso (1783). According to legend, soprano Josepha Dussek, the wife of composer Franz Xaver Dussek, contrived to have Mozart locked up until he wrote Bella mia fiamma, K. 528, as an insertion aria for her performance in an opera by Jommelli. Mozart did...
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