Handel Arianna in Creta

One of the very last recordings of baroque-pioneer conductor Alan Curtis (1934-2015), a supreme Handelian conductor and scholar. Alan Curtis, described by the New York Times’ as “one of the great scholar-musicians of recent times”, conducts a brilliant cast including German soprano star Christiane Karg and the Italian mezzo soprano Romina Basso. Christiane Karg is one of those fascinating voices of our time. She is certainly one of today’s most interesting German singers with an international profile. Many of her recordings such as “Scene!”, “Heimliche Aufforderung” or “Portrait” (for Berlin Classics) have been internationally acclaimed and were big commecial successes. A selection of arias, duets and instrumental pieces from Handel masterworks such as Semele, Hercules, Partenope, a.o. With liner notes by the british Handel specialist Dr. David Vickers. Incl. a dedication by mystery writer DONNA LEON, who was a close friend to Alan Curtis.

…Meredith Hall, eine bildhübsche kanadische Sopranistin mit herrlicher Stimme und ausserordentlicher Bühnenpräsenz, war eine Partenope, wie sie im Buche steht. Ihr nahm man jede Äusserung und jede Aktion ab, sei es als furchtlose Regentin, als ständig umworbene, aber stets treu zu ihrem Liebhaber stehende Frau, oder als von Arsace arglistig getäuschte Geliebte.

Handels ninth major opera for London, Alessandro was written as a showcase for the Rival Queens, the two famous Italian sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni whose supposed enmity, both personal and professional, not only generated good publicity for Handels latest opera but also added extra dramatic frisson to the two divas jealous clashes on stage.

Following the trend of singers releasing recitals based on the repertoire of great performers of previous centuries – Cecilia Bartoli's tribute to Maria Malibran and Juan Diego Flórez's to Giovanni Battista Rubini, for instance – countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has devoted a CD to the repertoire of eighteenth century castrato Giovanni Carestini, who was a rival of Farinelli's. According to contemporary accounts, Farinelli was the more virtuosic of the two, with a hair-raisingly dazzling coloratura, and Carestini was noted for the beauty and purity of his tone, and his profound musical and dramatic characterizations. The demands of the arias collected here make it clear that Carestini must also have had a fully developed technique, because they require remarkable agility and an awe-inspiring range that essentially encompasses both soprano and contralto registers, as well as great interpretive sensitivity.

Handel: Opera Seria is the third solo recital disc to come from soprano Sandrine Piau on Naïve Classique. In this instance, Piau is taking on the opera arias of ye big, bald, and perpetually peruked master of musicke, George Frideric Handel. Here Piau receives the sumptuous support of Les Talens Lyriques, led with expertise and good tempo choices by Christophe Rousset, so this setting invites nothing of the controversy sparked by the clunky Érard piano employed by Jos van Immerseel in Piau's previous offering of Debussy: Mélodies.

Cecilia Bartoli and Sol Gabetta – two of the most captivating women in classical music – are joining together for a new album ‘Dolce Duello’ to be released on Decca Classics on 10th November. It is a collection of Baroque masterpieces which showcase the stunning combination of voice and cello in a series of dazzling duels and wondrous arias. To coincide with the release, Bartoli and Gabetta will be performing on a European tour with Cappella Gabetta and conductor and violinist Andrés Gabetta.

Even in an age of thrilling countertenors, Max Emanuel Cencic stands out for the heroic scale and brilliance of his voice, his expansive lyricism, and his imagination and enterprise in choice of repertoire. Cencic has excelled as both a soprano and a mezzo-soprano, and Fantastic Cencic showcases his extraordinary interpretative range – from the great and lesser-known masters of the Baroque to the bel canto of Rossini and composers of the Romantic era from Schubert to Strauss. The third of these three CDs comprises recordings from the early 1990s, shortly after Cencic left the Wiener Sängerknaben, which are released here for the first time.