Glorious strains of Hugues Cuénod streaming off the radio today. He was singing a role from Francesco Cavalli's Ormindo at Glyndebourne in the 1960's. He was so wonderful I would have pulled over and parked but that's not safe on the motorway. The clip was part of this week's Composer of The Week feature on Francesco Cavalli. The series runs from noon and repeats at 2200 on BBC Radio 3
LINK HERE. Five programmes, packed with music. Some Composer of the Week shows are rubbish but this one is extremely good asnd was made specially in 2008 to go with Cavalli's La Calisto at the Royal Opera House.This is the first repeat. Fabulous music, beautifully chosen. Clear your head from the Proms a bit and imagine back to 17th century Venice.
I think that would have been 1967 that L'Ormindo was performed at Gyldenbourne. Cuenod would have been a very fresh 65 years old, young for him considering that his NY Metropolitan debut (I think Turnadot) was at the age of 84. He had a wonderfully expressive voice.
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