Album: Simone Kermes, Dramma (Sony Classical)

Named after the inscription “dramma per musica” to be found on 18th-century opera librettos, Dramma offers a remarkable collection of arias mostly drawn from longforgotten works by (now) unperformed composers.

Eight of the 12 songs are world premiere recordings of unaccountably beautiful arias such as Nicola Antonio Porpora’s “ Tace l’augello”, interspersed with more familiar pieces by Handel and Pergolesi. Simone Kermes treats these first airings with due care, exhibiting stately grace and poise on Porpora’s “Alto Giove”, and coping remarkably with the wide range and rapid coloratura passages of material often written for castrati, notably Giuseppe De Majo’s “Per trionfar pugnando”.

Download: Per trionfar pugnando; Alto Giove; Consola il genitore