Advantages: Fleming is sublime, well sung throughout Disadvantages: Live recording is slightly noticeable in places
Despite being one of the most prolific composers of opera and very successful in his own time, Handel operas have remained largely neglected in the operatic repertoire until fairly recently with the Handel revival that began in the '60s. Because of this, if you're looking for recordings of Handel operas there are often not too many to choose from and to my knowledge there are only 3 recordings available of Alcina: one with Joan Sutherland in the title role, one with Renee Fleming, and one with Arleen Auger. I am eagerly awaiting the release this month of another recording with Joyce DiDonato in the title role - possibly an unorthodox choice as a mezzo soprano, but one of my favourite singers.
Alcina tells the story of a sorceress (Alcina herself) who seduces every man who dares to set foot on her island. However, Alcina is fickle ...
bubblegum_princess 30.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Handel: Alcina
Scotsman David McVicar has blazed a spectacular trail in his fabulous staging of this Baroque opera seria for the 2005 Glyndebourne Festival. His starting material is Georg Frideric Handel?s formidable, four-hour-long ?Giulio Cesare in Egitto? (?Julius Caesar in Egypt?; also known simply as ?Giulio Cesare?), with libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Giacomo Grancesco Bussani?s work of the same name. The sheer length of the piece, with its typically Baroque musical da capo repeats of many verses can easily render this work into a completely boring and tedious affair. However, as you will see for yourself, ?boring? and ?tedious? will hardly apply to this particular staging as conceived by David McVicar and friends. Mr McVicar had the rare privilege of hand-picking his entire cast, and the wisdom of his choices shows clearly in ...
Advantages: Händel's music; Rasmussen, Hallenberg, Piau, Bayrakdarian; Rousset and Les Talens Lyrique. Disadvantages: Cold production design; occasionally slow staging.
The droll comedy-drama that is George Frideric Händel?s ?Serse? (1738) unfurls a tangled romantic daisy chain involving the rival loves of King Serse and his brother, Arsamene, for the beautiful Romilda. On the distaff side, there?s the competing love of Romilda and her sister, Atalanta, for Serse?s brother, Arsamene. Of this confused quartet, only Romilda and Arsamene actually love one another.
The titular Serse refers to the real-life Persian ruler, Xerxes I (Serse I), described by the Greek historian Herodotus in his Histories, Book VII. The libretto to ?Serse? (likely written probably by Händel himself and perhaps an unknown collaborator, and drawn from two previous libretti, respectively by Nicolò Minato and Silvio Stampiglia) combines both the comic and the dramatic. This new mixing of styles broke off from tradition, which ...
Christopher Dixon (Bass); Elizabeth Cragg (Soprano); James Bowman (Alto); Joanne Lunn (Soprano); Natasha Marsh (Soprano)
Orchestra / Ensemble(s)
London Handel Orchestra
Date of Release
10/2000
Label / Distributor
Somm Recordings / Coda Distribution Ltd
Pieces in Set
2
Running Time
2 hours 55 minutes
Genre(s)
Stage works
EAN
748871227828
Work 1
Work Title
Silla
Excerpt(s)
1. Overture 2. Mio diletto, che pensi? 3. Sol per te, bell' idol mio
Composer
George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759)
Genre
Stage works
Date Written
1713
Conductor
Denys Darlow
Orchestra / Ensemble
London Handel Orchestra
Main Performer
Christopher Dixon (Bass), Elizabeth Cragg (Soprano), James Bowman (Alto), Joanne Lunn (Soprano), Natasha Marsh (Soprano), Rachel Nicholls (Soprano), Simon Baker (Alto)
Opera Part(s)
Christopher Dixon (Il Dio), Elizabeth Cragg (Celia), James Bowman (Silla), Joanne Lunn (Lepido), Natasha Marsh (Flavia), Rachel Nicholls (Metella), Simon Baker (Claudio)
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Listed on Ciao since
02/11/2005
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