Handel Arianna in Creta

In the winter of 1733-1734, the opera houses of London were abounding in Ariannas. In late December, Porpora's Arianna in Nasso was staged by the Opera of the Nobility. In late January, Handel's Arianna in Creta was staged by the composer's own opera company. Comparison, apparently, proved odious – and fatal: Porpora's Naxos Arianna has fallen from the repertoire while Handel's Cretan Arianna has barely hung on by her finger tips. This 2005 Greek performance with George Petrou leading the Orchestra of Patras is the work's first recording in decades – and, thankfully, it's quite fine.

Nach dieser Produktion könnte man durchaus auf den Gedanken kommen, die Oper müsse eigentlich Teseo in Creta heissen, so beherrschend und überlegen gestaltet Wilke te Brummelstroete die Partie des Teseo! Neben ihrer Fähigkeit, sich dem Stil von Händels Musik anzupassen kommt ihre ungeheure Bühnenpräsenz und Ausdruckskraft, die sie zur alles beherrschenden Figur der Oper werden liess.

Angelika Kirchschlager has a committed following among lovers of Baroque music and the release of this superb CD should bring raves of applause from that audience as well as from anyone new to her voice fortunate to hear this fine recital. In excess of an hour of music is on this handsome CD with Kirchschlager magnificently collaborating with Lawrence Cummings conducting the period instrument ensemble of the Kammerorchester Basel.

Alessandro Severo is a pasticcio, an Italian term meaning a jumble or hodgepodge. In the operatic context, it refers to a work made up of music composed for another occasion and reused with little or no change. Handel produced three pasticcio operas based on his own music: Oreste (1734), Alessandro Severo (1738), and Giove in Argo (1739); only the latter contains any substantial new music. With this release, we now have recordings of all three.
FANFARE: Ron Salemi

Yes indeed, the Divine Miss Em has still got it. It was the late 1970s when Emma Kirkby first became the leading diva of the early-music revival. More than 20 years on, as this disc of mostly lesser-known Handel treats demonstrates–a follow-up to volume I–Kirkby remains a spectacular Handel singer. The pure tone, control over vibrato, astonishing agility, and immaculate delivery that made her world famous are all still in place; if anything, two decades of experience have made her even more brave and imaginative in the way she embellishes a da capo aria. It must be said that Kirkby also retains a somewhat restricted palette of vocal color. As Ted Perry of Hyperion Records has put it, "She sounds like a nice person, and she is."

One of the satisfying approaches to programming Handel arias is to get under the skin of a few chosen characters or singers. All the arias here were composed for the mezzo-soprano Durastanti or the castrato Carestini. Two less familiar arias from Ariodante put the popular 'Scherza infida' and 'Dopo notte' into a finer sort of context than usual for such programmes.

Max Emanuel Cencic accurately describes himself as a mezzo-soprano rather than a counter tenor. His tone, while pure, is colorfully nuanced, nothing like the blanched purity that was once (but is thankfully no longer) stereotypical of counter tenors. A lifetime of singing the most advanced repertoire has given him a confident technique, exceptionally sure intonation, astonishing vocal power, and an effortless-sounding flexibility; at the age of six he sang the Queen of the Night's "Der Hölle Rache on Zagreb" television, and he went on to become a soloist with the Vienna Boys' Choir. On this album he tackles some of Handel's most virtuosic and demanding mezzo arias, most of them relatively unfamiliar. /quote]

Lynne Dawson proclaims her distinction as a Handel singer – if anyone doubted it – in the opening moments of this CD: Alcina’s aria, where her full, warm and intensely musical voice floats over the orchestra so appealingly. She has the grand manner necessary for this piece but also thedelicacy of nuance to make the music saymuch more than the mere notes indicate.