Jakub Józef Orliński has become one of the most interesting artists around. On Beyond, his fifth solo recital for Erato, the Polish countertenor with the welcoming grin and mean line in breakdancing takes us back to the roots of opera itself with a typically eclectic and enthralling program. Of course, the big hitters are here – Monteverdi, Cavalli, Frescobaldi, Caccini – but who can put their hand up and say they are intimately familiar with the works of Claudio Saracini or Pietro Paulo Cappellini?

There’s an infectiousness about Orliński’s approach to singing that makes him a joy to hear. Just listen to the excitement in the voice in an up-tempo number like Monteverdi’s solo canzone Voglio di vita uscir. Or the way he plunges headlong into Frescobaldi’s Così mi disprezzate. He’s also a winning spinner of a silvery line, as in his thoughtful and expressive take on Caccini’s mournful Amarilli, mia bella, or the forlorn Incomprensibil Nume from Cavalli’s opera Pompeo Magno.

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