Description
A chorister at St Mark's in Venice under Monteverdi, Cavalli became organist at the Basilica in 1639 and was to win a reputation as a leading composer of opera for the new commercial opera houses of Venice in the generation after Monteverdi. The pastoral 'Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne' (The Loves of Apollo and of Daphne) was Cavalli's second opera, setting a libretto by Busenello, who provided the text, three years later, for Monteverdi's last opera, 'L'incoronazione di Poppea'. Cavalli's opera deals with the god Apollo's amorous pursuit of the chaste Daphne, who finds refuge in metamorphosis into a laurel tree, to her lover's distress. Alberto Zedda conducts the soloists and Orquesta Joven de la Sinf??nica de Galicia, appropriately given that he is highly regarded for his musicological work on his editions of important instrumental works and operas of the eighteenth century. Zedda's previous opera releases on Naxos have been very well received: \Alberto Zedda leads with plenty of sparkle and rhythmic verve. 'American Record Guide' on 8.660191-92 'La Cenerentola'.""