Arie Antiche (“Ancient Airs”) is the name of a collection of “older” music—perhaps the first historical collection—put together in 1885 by Italian composer Alessandro Parisotti. It was a major hit, and was followed by two other volumes in short order. There are 84 arias in this set (of which we get 17 selections), most of them settings of Italian texts, and almost all of the composers likewise of Italian provenance. Many of these pieces will be familiar to listeners who perhaps did not know of their origins previously, and they have proved enormously popular to professional singers (who often use them as lead-offs in recitals) and students (who can learn basic musicality and phrasing from the relatively simple technique needed to perform them). Scarlatti, Caldara, and Marcello are among the more notable artists featured in the collection.
These pieces were selected and arranged by Parisotti (who also included some of his own compositions), for voice and piano, and feature a distinctively nineteenth-century flavor. What the Margiono Quintet has done (comprised of Charlotte Margiono and a string quartet taken from the members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) is to play these pieces freshly arranged for string quartet by A.C. Vinzi. Margino’s voice is a model of delicacy and balance, with a wonderful penchant for interpretative nuance and seductive tonal qualities. The arrangements give more of an authentic flavoring to the music not present in the piano “originals”, and mimic the time period of the music much better.
The surround sound is handled very nicely with lovely ambiance and excellent depth. This is admittedly a niche album, but lovers of singing should not hesitate, and those wanting to broaden their collections really need an album like this to grace their shelves, despite the rather stingy 54 minutes—much more could have been offered.
— Steven Ritter
