Fortuna Chance

lexander Agricola, the quincentenary of whose death fell in 2006, is not over-represented in the catalogue so this disc, then, is very welcome. Fretwork take hold of this frequently unpredictable music (all but one of the pieces are performed in new editions by composer Fabrice Fitch) with confidence. They produce performances of exuberance, proving that what a contemporary of the composer called his 'bizarre and crazy manner', as Fitch notes, can either be subverted or assumed to be, in fact, less crazy than it might appear and give impressive musical results.

Giustino is the Baroque version of a ‘ripping yarn’. The eponymous hero rises from ploughboy to emperor via an action-packed curriculum vitae that has him seeing visions, routing traitors, fighting bears and even slaying a sea-monster! Written in the autumn of 1736, shortly after Handel had suffered a period of ill-health, Giustino is not among his greatest operas, but it is thoroughly entertaining and offers much fine music. Particularly felicitous are Giustino’s bucolic aria ‘Può ben nascere tra li boschi’ and Anastasio’s lovely ‘O fiero e rio sospetto’. The headlong pace leaves Handel little time to develop the more sensual, amorous side of his music. One exception – and the opera’s most entrancing interlude – is the ravishing love duet in Act II, superbly sung here by Dorothea Röschmann (Arianna) and Dawn Kotoski (Anastasio).