Cesare Handel

Here is what is probably Handel’s most accomplished opera: the heir to L’incoronazione di Poppea with respect to the villainy of some of its characters, but also the Baroque ancestor of certain Romantic operas! Scrupulously based on historical characters, this work illustrates many different facets of the human soul, and also boasts perhaps the most sumptuous orchestral textures Handel ever conceived, magnificently brought out by Lars Ulrik Mortensen in this production from the Copenhagen Opera. Francisco Negrin’s transposition of the opera to the universe of modern war and Anthony Baker’s refined designs place Andreas Scholl (Giulio Cesare) and the other soloists in an unsettling, crepuscular atmosphere that is highly contemporary.

Those who are looking for a traditional production of one of Handel's greatest operas are advised to stay clear of this release. Director Herbert Wernicke, who also designed the sets and the costumes, has turned Giulio Cesare into archaeological fantasy: the entire opera takes places on top of a giant replica of the Rosetta Stone, and the final chorus is sung by camera-clicking tourists. (Shades of Philip Glass's Akhnaten!) Achilles, Ptolemy's general, is dressed like Indiana Jones's less svelte brother, and throughout the course of the production we see, at different times, dresses and uniforms that could have been worn in the century just past, powdered wigs that could have been worn in the 1700s, and a man (fortunately silent!) in a crocodile costume, who apparently represents the spirit of Egypt…

Raymond Tuttle

It is usually the big nineteenth-century opera sets that are bought for their singers; but with a line-up of principals such as we have here Handel too is swept into the golden net. Lucia Popp, two years into her career after her Vienna debut, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, Walter Berry: that is a quartet which in its time may have seemed no more than standard stuff, but at this date looks starry indeed. […] The Orfeo, for one thing, is sung in German instead of Italian; it has cuts, though many fewer than the Mackerras recording in English with Dame Janet Baker; it has the solo voices recorded very close indeed (those that are supposedly off-stage are just about where many modern recordings would have them except when off-stage); and the orchestra sounds, to our re-trained ears, big and thick, with the heavy bass-line that used to seem as proper to Handel as gravy from the roast was to Yorkshire pudding. The roles of Caesar and Sextus, moreover, are taken by men, and there is not a countertenor in sight.

Händel Georg Friedrich was a German-English Baroque composer, who became internationally famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerti grossi. Handel was born in 1685, at Halle in Germany, in the same year when Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti were born.

This set contains 8 operas by Handel in 22 CDs. In many ways, this box is a mix-bag: some of them performed in the "traditional style" with severe cuts, and others in "historically-informed" performances. Selection includes some of the most popular Handel operas and some of the rarely-performed. It's the latter category that one should pay closer attention.

Known for her idiosyncratic performances of baroque repertoire and eccentric personal style, the German coloratura soprano Simone Kermes trained in her native Leipzig, with early successes including the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. Bach has not, however, figured prominently in her career since then – Kermes gravitated towards Vivaldi, Handel and the Neapolitan composers who wrote for the great castrati, such as Riccardo Broschi, Alessandro Scarlatti and Porpora. (She has recorded several solo albums of such repertoire for Sony, including Dramma, and Colori d’Amore – reviewing the latter, BBC Music Magazine described her as ‘a remarkable artist, charming, fascinating and boldly risk-taking by turns’).

Giulio Cesare, the most popular of Handel’s operas, is named after the great Roman emperor, but its most memorable character is Cleopatra. In this production by Laurent Pelly from Paris’ splendid Palais Garnier, the role of the Egyptian queen is assumed for the first time by Natalie Dessay, described by the Telegraph as “a supreme vocal enchantress”.

This Harmonia Mundi DVD release of GIULIO CESARE from Denmark, recorded in 2005 is, quite simply, magnificent. Everything about this release signifies a major event, starting with the packaging. A beautifully produced gatefold DVD case, attractively and conveniently laid out. The booklet gives all the relevant information, with the synopsis synchronized with the tracks (the only drawback is that there are only 9 tracks for the first DVD, 15 for the second; given that Universal Classics painstakingly separates the recits from the arias {the Ponnelle film of COSI for example has over 35 tracks per DVD}, this is inconvenient, because you have to do more searching if you want to)…