Cavalli/ Les Paladins/ Correas - L'ormindo

Ormindo is the third melodrama to have been born of the collaboration between librettist Giovanni Faustini and composer Francesco Cavalli (1602-76). The plot tells the story of two pairs of lovers (Erisbe and Ormindo, Sicle and Amida) as they experience reversals of fortune, disguise and a fictive death, all of which culminates in the agnizione of Ormindo as Hariadeno's long-lost son in an incomparable coup de theatre. In Ormindo, as in the majority of Venetian operas from the same period, all is wagered upon the expressive power of the voices. The symphonies and ritornelli, sometimes merely sketched out in the score and left to be completed by the singers during performance, have the role of giving body to the fine texture of the character's monologues and dialogues. "This vivid performance has plenty of dramatic conviction... This engaging performance by Les Paladins is an important part of a patchy discography. (Gramophone)