Sunday Afternoon at the Opera - Mozart: Il Re Pastore

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera host Keith Brown writes:

This is the tenth of Mozart's operatic works, assigned the number 208 in the Köchel catalog of Mozart's entire musical output. It certainly belongs in the genre of opera, but it has been labelled a serenata, a pastorale--even a cantata, since its premiere at Salzburg in 1775 may have been in unstaged concert performance. The early Mozart style is easy to listen to, and the libretto by Pietro Metastasio taxes no one's mental powers.

The mode of Metastasian opera seria was already old-fashioned when the young musical genius got to work on a much altered wordbook for "The Shepherd King." One conservative feature is that it calls for the voice of a male soprano or castrato. Female soprano, Reri Grist, took on the breeches role of Amenta, the noble-minded shepherd who ought to be king of Sidon in the time of Alexander the Great. Reri Grist sang in a 1970s era recording for RCA that was picked up for LP reissue in 1981 through the Arabesque label. Denis Vaughan conducted the Orchestra of Naples, with a cast that included noteworthy Italian tenors Nicola Moni and Luigi Alva. The Arabesque re-issue I broadcast on Sunday, July 23, 2006.

Il Re Pastore has been recorded anew by the period-instrument orchestra and singers of Classical Opera, a musical organization specializing in the lyric theaterworks of Mozart and his contemporaries. Ian Page directs the singers and players. In the role of Alessandro is the distinguished British tenor, John Mark Ainsley. Aminta is soprano Sarah Fox. Signum Classics of the UK released Il Re Pastore on two compact discs in 2015.