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Following Heimweh, her acclaimed debut recording on Pentatone, German singer Anna Lucia Richter returns to the label with Il delirio della passione (her last recording as a soprano, having made the decision to continue her career as a mezzo-soprano). This album is full of Monteverdi trea­sures, ranging from heart-wrenching opera scenes and religious music to bucolic songs. Richter works together with Ensemble Claudiana and Luca Pianca, one of the most eminent Monteverdi interpreters of our age.

Monteverdi, a pioneer in the development of opera, is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history. The dawn of the 17th century saw the birth of a new genre of recitatives and arias for a single voice in which the singer could express all the nuances of text, finally freed from the constrictions of polyphonic chant. Many great composers and poets of the day experimented with the formal and harmonic structures that would become melodrama, opera in musica – an Italian invention. Monteverdi is recognised as the genius that brought the art form to perfection.

“The tonal language of Monteverdi opened up a new world for me,” comments Richter. “On the one hand, it is very close to the melody of speech, while on the other often creating an almost unfathomable emotional depth. With Monteverdi, every word, every comma and every point is deliberately there and important.” For these reasons she decided to use the remaining funds from her 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award to study with an Italian language expert Serena Malcangi, alongside her work with Pianca.

The experience opened up many more doors for her. One such revelation was Monteverdi’s opera L’Arianna for which only fragments of the score exist. But by examining the full libretto and appreciating the complete story, Arianna’s lament is put in context and becomes a powerful outpouring of anguish and desperation that cannot be sung softly and sweetly.

Every piece on this album has inspired Richter for a different reason and her intensive research has helped her get to the heart of the character of the work, whether it be the impudent irony and humour in Ohimé ch’io cado, the mocking self pity in Et è pur dunque vero and Zefiro torna, the oriental influences in La mia turca, the eroticism of Pur ti miro and the godly character of La Musica’s prologue.

Monteverdi’s dramatic genius lay in his mastery of synthesis and expression to portray the most profound and passionate longings of the heart. The singer, in turn, must rise to the challenge of creating the most intimate and personal style of singing, with all the virtuosity these pieces demand. This was a welcome challenge for Richter who has longed to perform this repertoire for many years and make each piece her own.

Il delirio della passione
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Anna Lucia Richter soprano
Ensemble Claudiana
Luca Pianca musical direction

1 Prologue Dal mio Permesso amato (from L’Orfeo, 1607)
2 Zefiro torna (from Scherzi musicali, 1632)
3 La mia turca (from Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze, 1624)
   Lamento d’Arianna (1623, fragment from L’Arianna, 1608)
4 Lasciatemi morire
5 O Teseo, o Teseo mio
6 Dove, dov’è la fede
7 Ahi, che non pur rispondi
8 Pur ti miro (from L’incoronazione di Poppea, 1643)
9 Et è pur dunque vero (from Scherzi musicali, 1632)
10 Confitebor tibi Domine (1641)
11 Lamento della Ninfa (from Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi [Book 8], 1638)
12 Si dolce è il tormento (from Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze, 1624)
13 Ohimè ch’io cado (from Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze, 1624)

Released as 1 CD and in digital formats for streaming and high-resolution downloads.
Audio Resolution for digital files: 96/24 PCM stereo and 44.1k/16 PCM

Anna Lucia Richter mezzo soprano

• Born in Cologne to a family of professional musicians
• Studied with her mother Regina Dohmen until the age of nine and as a member of the Cologne Cathedral girls choir. Subsequent teachers included Kurt Widmer in Basel, Klesie Kelly-Moog at the Musikhochschule Köln and further studies with Margreet Honig, Edda Moser, Christoph Prégardien and Edith Wiens
• Awards include Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2018
• Operatic repertoire includes roles such as Ilia (Idomeneo), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Eurydice / La Musica in Monteverdi’s Orfeo (Sasha Waltz’s acclaimed production) and Elisabeth Zimmerat in Henze’s  Elegie für junge Liebenden (Keith Warner’s new production at Theater an der Wien)
• Concerts include at the Lucerne Festival with both the Lucerne Festival Orchestra/Riccardo Chailly and Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Bernard Haitink/Christian Gerhaher, BBC Proms with the Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer, Orchestre de Paris and the NDR Elbphilharmonie both with Thomas Hengelbrock, Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecila/Daniel Harding, London Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Haitink, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra/Paavo Järvi and Freiburg Baroque Orchestra/Jérémie Rhrorer
• Lieder are her passion and she has a wide repertoire. Has performed in most of the top international venues such as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Rheingau Music Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Park Avenue Armory and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall
• Recordings include her debut solo CD on Channel Classics released in 2015 featuring Eichendorff settings and improvisations, accompanied by Michael Gees and Heimweh released in 2019 featuring Schubert songs and Reliquien, written for her by Heinz Holliger (commissioned with BBT funds) accompanied by Matthias Schorn
• Began a Residency for three years in 2018/19 season as “Junge Wilde” at the Dortmund Konzerthaus
• Future plans for 2021 include Mahler’s Symphony No 4 with Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra/Lorenzo Viotti, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/Gustavo Gimeno and Munich Philharmonic Orchestra/Valery Gergiev. She will tour with Freiburg Baroque Orchestra to London, Bath, Stuttgart and Berlin performing arias from Handel’s opera Semele and Telemann’s cantata Ino. She will also be involved in a Mozart masses dance project at Salzburg’s Mozart Week

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