The title
Roma Travestita
means "Rome in Disguise," and it refers to the fact that female singers were banned by the Pope in the repertory on this album, necessitating the use of castrati. Those being in short supply these days, music like this is usually sung by a countertenor. Here, it falls to
Bruno de Sa
, one of the sensations of the pandemic moment, who emerged little heralded from his native Brazil and has a really unusual sound. He calls himself a male soprano or sopranista, and his voice more resembles that of a female soprano than it does a countertenor's. His voice did not change during adolescence, and the result is a creamy, oddly smooth sound, lightly backed up by a moderate chest voice. So far, he has sung mostly Baroque repertory, and here, on his debut album, he does well at picking material to showcase himself. It tends toward the late Baroque, when the trends that led to
Gluck
and Classical melody were falling into place, and most of it fits
de Sa
splendidly. He is agile in the big opera seria pieces, sweet in the slower ones. The album represents quite a feat of research by
and the historical instrument ensemble
Il Pomo d'Oro
under director
Francesco Corti
, for many of the pieces have never been recorded before, and nothing other than the arias by
Vivaldi
and
Alessandro Scarlatti
qualifies as even marginally familiar. Some will want the album as an introduction to such composers as
Giuseppe Arena
and the pseudonymous
Rinaldo di Capua
, but it was the unique voice of
that put this release on classical best-seller charts in the fall of 2022, and listeners owe it to themselves to experience it. ~ James Manheim