Croatian countertenor Max Emanuel Cenčić’s latest Wigmore recital, with the French period ensemble Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu under their harpsichordist-conductor Franck-Emmanuel Comte, surveyed the influence of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso on 18th-century composers. Ariosto’s epic poem, published in 1532, was immensely popular at the time, and it is unsurprising, perhaps, that opera composers of the period were repeatedly drawn to its protagonist, a Christian warrior driven slowly mad by jealous, unrequited love for the pagan princess Angelica. Cenčić explored responses to Ariosto’s narrative by Vivaldi, Handel and Porpora with his customary intelligence and dramatic flair.
His voice, dark, warm and wonderfully even throughout its range, remains remarkable. His coloratura is breathtaking yet carefully deployed for dramatic effect. Fammi Combattere from Handel’s Orlando was a bravura statement of military ardour, spectacularly negotiated. In Cielo! Se Tu Il Consenti, from the same work, mood and tone darkened as Orlando’s uncertainty and instability set in. Cenčić is equally fine in slow, expansive arias, where his breath control is exemplary and his sense of line immaculate. Già l’Ebro Mio Ciglio, the lullaby that closes Orlando’s mad scene from Handel’s opera, was deeply touching in its sad, world-weary grace. Best of all, however, was the aria with which he opened, Sol da Te, Mio Dolce Amore from Vivaldi’s Orlando, in which a flute obbligato weaves its way round the vocal line, subtly undermining its calm. Cenčić sang with hushed beauty of tone, while Anna Besson played the flute solo with finely understated virtuosity.
Besson was also the gracious soloist in Vivaldi’s Flute Concerto in D major “Il Gardellino”, one of several instrumental works performed by Le Concert de L’Hostel Dieu when Cenčić was away from the platform. They’re an engaging ensemble, their playing for the most part tautly focused and admirably clear. A couple of slips in intonation intruded upon Porpora’s Sinfonia da Camera in E minor. They were at their best, though, in Vivaldi’s Concerto for Strings in G minor, combining an almost jazzy brilliance with admirable sensuousness of tone and line.
