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Endless Pleasure - Handel Arias:   ‘A tour of Handel’s London operas’  The Classical Opera Company, cond. Ian Page; Sophie Bevan (soprano) Gillian Keith (soprano) Anna Stéphany (mezzo-soprano) Michael Maloney (reader). Wigmore Hall, 12. 1. 2009   (ME)


Fear not, the delightful title of this evening’s concert refers to the ‘Endless pleasure, endless love’ which Handel’s Semele ‘enjoys above’ rather than one of those dubious missives which clog up your inbox promising…well, you know. Oddly, the title aria was not sung, reflecting perhaps one of the unwritten preoccupations of the Classical Opera Company, that is to provide a taste of the unexpected alongside the better known, rather than concentrating only on the plums. This principle also applies to the singers, although on this occasion the indisposition of Sarah Fox gave us the very experienced Gillian Keith as soloist.

Amongst the entertaining readings provided by Michael Maloney we heard such gems as the remark from the ‘Gentlemen’s Magazine’ that when listening to Handel, ‘every sense has ears’ and the priceless comment about the staging of Giulio Cesare that the many rows between the singers, directors and so on had provided even more ‘diverting scenes’ than the opera itself. The readings were neatly interspersed with a chronological series of arias, from Rinaldo, the first Italian opera composed specially for London in 1711, to Semele, first performed in 1744.

Anna Stéphany has a gravely beautiful voice, ideally suited to Rinaldo’s music, and she gave ‘Venti, turbini’ all the fire it needed. She was followed by Sophie Bevan in a rarely performed aria from Amadigi di Gaula– many Handel lovers would be familiar with the wonderful ‘Sento la gioia’ from the same opera (if you don’t know it, then hurry to ‘YouTube’ where you can hear it spectacularly sung by Lawrence Zazzo with dazzling trumpet playing by Michele Santi) so it was enlightening to hear ‘Ah, spietato! E non ti muove’ given as a concert piece. As with the better known aria, it is really a duet for voice and instrument, in this case the oboe, and both Bevan and the oboist gave it with elegant phrasing and mellifluous tone.

Perhaps the most familiar piece in the first part of the concert was ‘Piangerò la sorte mia’ from Giulio Cesare, which Gillian Keith sang sweetly although a little disjointedly in parts. The orchestra played especially finely here, as indeed it did throughout, although there were times when I felt the need for a little more sparkle, a little more daring from Ian Page’s direction – after all, if we are to avoid snide remarks about ‘Not one of Handel’s  thousand best’ we need to make the case for his verve and fascination as forcefully as we can. No lack of verve however in the duet from Tolomeo which closed the first half.

The central work in the second half was the wonderful ‘Scherza infida’ from Ariodante, sing by Anna Stéphany with nobility of tone although there was a need for a stronger rhythmic drive from the orchestra. Stéphany joined with Gillian Keith for the classic Handelian duet ‘Ama; nell’armi e nell’ amar’ from Deidama, Handel’s last Italian opera – the work received only three performances, the public by this time having grown weary of grand opera seria. This lovely duet brings ‘Caro! Bella!’ from Giulio Cesare to mind, and it deserves hearing. The concert closed with a confident performance of Semele’s ‘No, no, I’ll take no less’ allowing Sophie Bevan to display her often fearless coloratura – this is a young soprano whose career I have followed with interest since first hearing her at the RCM, and her progress has been as swift as I expected.

The Classical Opera Company has as part of its remit to ‘discover and nurture young singers and instrumentalists’ and to ‘educate and inspire the widest possible audience through imaginative programming and presentation.’ It could hardly be said to have discovered these singers, but it most certainly is nurturing them, and its programming is definitely imaginative – although how wide an audience this evening’s was is open to conjecture, given that it was ‘Corporate night’ sponsored by ConocoPhillips. No matter -  a packed house enjoyed this survey of what Charles Burney called ‘the opera, a tawdry, expensive meretricious lady’ and of course many of us will soon be experiencing the Royal Opera’s new production of the very work which brought opera seria to its knees with its vicious satire, The Beggar’s Opera. 

Melanie Eskenazi


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