Quite Riveting Pergolesi's 'L'Olimpiade' - impresses GERALD FENECH '... sound and visuals are top-drawer stuff.'

Up to some five years ago, Pergolesi's stage works were almost totally consigned to oblivion, apart from La Serva Padrona that is, which to all intents and purposes cannot be labeled as an opera. We had the occasional revival on CD, mostly from Italian labels, but, by far and large, Pergolesi's name was mostly connected with the sacred genre; his Stabat Mater readily springs to mind. Now, all of a sudden, the music market has been inundated by no less than five theatre works, all on DVD and Blu-Ray, which have not only filled up a huge gap in the catalogue, but also bolstered our appreciation of this very fine composer from the beginning of the classical era.

First performed in January 1735 in Rome (slightly more than a year before Pergolesi's tragic and untimely death), L'Olimpiade was composed to a libretto by the renowned Pietro Metastasio...

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI

ARTHAUS MUSIK GMBH

ITALY