This is a concept disc. Don’t be misled by the
cover art which implies that Handel wrote an opera called La
Maga Abbandonata; he didn’t. This is the brain-child of the
music director Alan Curtis and the writer Donna Leon who reads
an extract from her novel Acqua alta on the final track
of the disc.
The concept has some interest but in essence
this is a recital disc and a very good one indeed. Both singers
are excellent, the soprano particularly so. These extracts are
described by Donna Leon in her interesting accompanying essay
as "arias of rage and sorrow" in which the sorceresses
who people so many of Handel’s operas do just that, rage and sorrow;
note the number of crudels and crudos in the track
listing! The music is stunning. I don’t think I had realised just
how good Handel’s operatic music could be. If one tries to attempt
entire operas one gets bogged down in the interminable plots and
the vast length of them. Productions on video seem to be overwhelmed
by odd directorial peccadillos so perhaps this sort of disc, consisting
of short extracts, is the best way into the repertoire. Ah!
Crudel from Rinaldo is a splendid example of Handel
at his most intense. Ah! Mio cor from Alcina epitomises
the particular character of Simone Kermes’ voice. She is somewhat
of the school of Cecilia Bartoli in that she "emotes"
quite hard and has an appealing breathiness of voice as well as
secure pitching. Melissa’s aria Desterò dall’empia Dite
from Amadigi is a stunning display of singing as well as
trumpet and oboe virtuosity from soloists of the very fine original
instrument group, new to me, Il Complesso Barocco.
The recording is magnificent. The lovely spacious
acoustic of Bayreuth’s "other" opera house, the Markgräfliches
Opernhaus, is beautifully captured. This building is one of the
finest of its kind in Europe and the auditorium sounds on this
recording as superb as it sounds (and looks) in reality. The extra
track in which Donna Leon reads aloud from her novel is also a
striking demonstration of the recording art, apart from being
interesting in content. I hope for more from this source. The
booklet talks about Curtis’s plans to record Handel’s Radamisto
and Tolomeo. If he happens on this site, Mr Curtis, please
will you record them in Bayreuth?
Dave Billinge
Simone Kermes (soprano)