Farinelli (2019)

"Bartoli's album alternates between vocal fireworks and soul-searching laments. She's sensitively accompanied by the period instrument group Il Giardino Armonico led by Giovanni Antonini. Some of the most thrilling music comes from Neapolitan composer Nicola Porpora, who custom-tailored operas for Farinelli and became his mentor. "My challenge," Bartoli told NPR, "is to perform these scores, serving as closely as possible the music written in them. But of course we perform for our 21st century public. And being respectful to Baroque style I try to share these emotions with the public of our time." Bartoli has sold over 12 million records and won five Grammys. She could easily put her career on autopilot. But no. She calls herself the "Indiana Jones" of classical music digging for antiquities, like Porpora's sparkling aria "Lusingato dalla speme," which has never before been recorded." (NPR)