Porpora: Opera Arias – Max Emanuel Cencic

   in Opera Now (Jun, 2018)
Should Nicola Porpora be watching over us, he must be delighted with the airing his music is getting these days, 250 years after his death. A new disc of Porpora Arias, featuring the Croatian countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic, is devoted entirely to the Neapolitan composer’s music. There is a wealth of material to choose from (Porpora composed around 50 operas), and Cencic includes six world premieres here, conducted by George Petrou. Once again, although he is adept at the vocal firework displays, it’s Cencic’s smooth legato and sense of line that really impress. Porpora’s music reveals a wealth of unusual orchestral colours, particularly in his writing for brass, revealed …