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Now I add here two more Dutch reviews, that describe even better how it was. I forgot to mention something a British fan wrote me. He was astonished that the whole audience gave a standing ovation already before the break. Indeed they do not do that in England and not a lot of other venues either (I sometimes was one of few who did it), but the Dutch like to show their appreciation. They all get on their feet for every artist, but Cecilia is the only one who gets it before the break also.
I also forgot mentioning that Cecilia did what she always does, during one encore she turns to the audience (about 400) behind her and sings to them, keeping rotating till she finished the aria turned to the hall again.Quite sympethatic, although that audience does not pay a very sympethatic price for that, 105 Euro (130 US Dollars).
During the applause Cecilia and the orchestra also turn round and bow before the audience that gives also their standing ovation. Many flowers were given and many pictures made.
People flock forward to the stage and stay there during the encores (of course we fans know how many will follow). A few people (but just a few, not 100 like in Cologne two years ago) leave before Cecilia's last hand wave to the audience.
Reviews:
TROUW : PURE ECSTASY WINS
Actually she does not need to do anything, just appear on top of the stairs of the Concertgebouw and the atmosphere cannot be broken anymore. In a vehemently cut in at the waist black robe with placket-hole (slit) till the upper-leg Cecilia descended the stairs and looked towards the chock-full hall which immediately whirled of excited expectation. After a few lesser performances in past years she now fully acquited all those expectations.It was a FEAST last Friday evening!
That black robe with risqué split was a nice metaphor for the programme she presented: sensual and virtuoso opera music masked as oratorio-arias. Sober black with sexy vistas, so to say. ..... the compositions of Calada and Scarlatti were mostly unknown.That is a pity, as it turned out.The aria "Vanne pentita a piangere" by Caldara's Santa Eugenia, has all the qualities of a baroque top-hit.Especially when sung so majestically as Bartoli did: more than 8 minutes of pure ecstasy. Of course Bartoli also presented again triumphal circus coloratura. It remains a real miracle to listen to.And still it were the "simple" arias that made her performance so grand.For example Lascia la spina from Händel's Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno". This golden melody started it's career as sarabande in Handel's opera Almira in Hamburg, then appeared in said oratorio in Rome, got universal fame as Lascia ch'io pianga in Händel's first opera for London (Rinaldo, Ton) and got coughed to pieces last Friday by a not entirely bacillus-free audience.
The accompanying La Scintilla orchestra from Zurich did it's very best to equal Bartoli's high standard but did not succeed in this. Minkowski accompanied her on the CD magnificently, a pity they had no time to tour with Cecilia. As encores Cecilia did sing real opera and indeed it sounded no different than all those oratorio arias.
Surprising was Bononcini's Omra mai fu from Serse, a libretto Händel would use later.Nice to hear, but Händel wins with his version in all aspects.After a Cleopatra aria from Händel's Giulio Cesare and another Scarlatti little joke, Cecilia ended the evening with an even more vituoso repeat of the Angel-aria from La Resurrezione. The hall was way beyond boiling point by then for a while.
DE TELEGRAAF : BARTOLI SWEEPS AUDIENCE OFF THEIR FEET
The popularity of Cecilia Bartoli knows no limits. In the Amsterdam Concertgebouw ("concert-hall") extra seats (about 60, Ton) had to be put close behind the accompanying orchestra on the stage.The audience had paid amounts up to 125 Euro and coughed for 250.In the corridors her new CD was sold like the proverbial hot rolls (as it is said in Dutch),although it was announced that she would not sign them.The programme consisted mainly of arias on the new CD Opera Proibita.At the beginning of the 18th century the Vatican always found new reasons to forbid opera, a Holy Year, a war, an earthquake.Composers gave way to oratorios and cantatas, like car drivers take the A44 motorway to The Hague when the A4 has been temporarily closed off. For the musical style it made little difference if the expression of emotions were put in the mouths of common folk or a saint (as in the oratorios of this programme). In all those fragments from oratorios Bartoli most of all showed two facettes: raging coloratura to expresss triumph or anxiety and fascinating long lines for serene or melancholic moods. Her virtuoso voice acrobatics are still breathtaking, although in the high tempi rough edges manifest themselves like wrinkles that start to appear in one's face over the years and make it a little more coarse.But however spectacular her display is, it never becomes a circus act. It always remains in relation to the emotions which are being portrayed with an incredible flexibility in the expression.Even more than in that baroque impressive art Bartoli touches the heart in the still arias. The marvelously beautiful "Vanne pentita" by Caldara she starts with a breathtaking 'messa di voce', in which she slowly crescendoes the note and then throttles down. Or she adds subtle variations in the repeat ('da capo') of an aria, like the half-tones of a soft-whispering 'mezza voce' in Caldo sangue by A.Scarlatti and Si,piangete,pupille dolenti by Caldara. A highlight is the moving Lascia la spina, an early version of Lascia ch'io pianga.
Apart from Bartoli's treasure hunting in almost forgotten repertoire, she also revitalizes the delicacies of the ancient art of singing. She does that with an infectious dedication. When she performs she seems to become in total unity with the music, and thus enwraps the audience in a fascinating adventure. It made not much difference that the orchestra was not quite at her same level. Among all the encores one was the most interesting, Ombra mai fu from Giovanni Bononcini's Serse. The audience could not get enough of it, so that Bartoli had to put an end to the feast herself. She waved one last time and the hall waved back exuberantly.
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MORE reviews (as promised) 
Amsterdam reviews: There's nothing better than Bartoli live
(Ton)
