MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Buy through MusicWeb for £38 postage paid World-wide.


Musicweb Purchase button

 

George Frideric HANDEL (1685 – 1759)
Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1724)
Angelo Manzotti (sopranist) – Giulio Cesare; Alexandra Zabala (soprano) – Cleopatra; Paola Pittaluga (contralto) – Cornelia; Patrizia Bozzo (soprano) – Sesto; Angelo Galeano (counter- tenor) – Tolomeo; Riccardo Ristori (bass) – Achilla; Angelo Bonazzoli (counter-tenor) – Nireno; Guido Ripoli (baritone) – Curio
Il Concento Ecclesiastico Vocal Ensemble and Orchestra/Luca Franco Ferrari
rec. live, 30 July 2006, Savona
Italian libretto enclosed
CONCERTO CD 2042-3 [3 CDs: 70:08 + 74:14 + 65:55]


Experience Classicsonline

Giulio Cesare in Egitto, first performed at King’s Theatre, Haymarket, London, on 20 February 1724, is generally regarded as Handel’s finest creation for the operatic stage. It is also by far the most popular in modern times with more than two hundred productions all over the world. It was an immediate success from the beginning and was revived in 1725, 1730 and 1732 with some changes by the composer. It was also performed in Paris, Hamburg and Brunswick but like all other Handel operas it fell into oblivion during the 19th century and when the renaissance for Handel’s opera came in the 1920s it was often drastically changed, transposed and re-orchestrated.

 

It survived even such mutilations and today is generally performed as close to the original as possible, though the lack of castrato singers makes it necessary to employ contraltos and/or counter-tenors for the high male roles. On this recording the title role, written for the famous alto castrato Senesini, is taken by the male soprano Angelo Manzotti. ‘It is superfluous to note that some arias have been transposed in tonalities more congruous with the characteristics of the vocal capabilities of the performers but this also occurred in Haendel’s time’, says Matteo Armanino in the booklet notes, where he also admits that ‘some arias and spoken lines have been cut, without, however, damaging in any perceptible way for the audience (the) musical and scenographic facets …’. This is understandable, since Giulio Cesare in Egitto is a very long opera – even with cuts. The total playing time is 387:40, which means that with two normal - long - intervals the performance ended just before midnight. What is an desirable feature is the number of clumsy edits in the applause which is enthusiastic and frequent. Otherwise there is very little in the way of disturbing noises and the recording balance is fully acceptable. The playing of Il Concento Ecclesiastico on period instruments is fresh and stylish and the vocal ensemble makes strong contributions.

 

None of the soloists were known to me and there is some variable singing. However Angelo Manzotti in the title role and Alexandra Zabala as Cleopatra, the role written for the famous Francesca Cuzzoni, are splendid. Manzotti is dramatically apt and has fluent technique; his vocal range is impressive. He ends his second aria Empio, dirò tu sei (CD 1 tr. 5) on the word ‘pietà’ down in the bass register. He is also very good in the recitatives. His dramatic capacity is best demonstrated in the martial Va tacito e nascosto (CD 1 tr. 22) which is thrillingly sung, and his virtuosity is also well displayed in Se in fiorito (CD 2 tr. 11), where there is also a long cadenza for solo violin, exquisitely played. But the real tour de force is Al lampo dell’armi (CD 2 tr. 17), where his breakneck coloratura and stupendous high notes are amazing. Occasionally his tone sprawls a little and intonation can be suspect, but this can easily be overlooked in the face of such dramatically convincing and fresh singing. Ms Zabala sings stylishly, with nuance and has a good trill, secure top notes and smooth runs. V‘adoro, pupille (CD 2 tr. 9) is elegantly controlled and the long Se pieta di me non senti (CD 2 tr. 19) is a highlight. In the well known Piangerò (CD 3 tr. 5) she differentiates well the contrasting feelings. On the debit side her vibrato must be noted. This can become irritating in the long run and there is also a certain hardness to her tone.

 

Patrizia Bozzo is an excellent Sesto: fluent, dramatic and with beautiful voice. The good impression is slightly marred by a nervous flutter in her tone. Angelo Galeano sings Tolomeo with verve and security but I can imagine some listeners being irritated by his quick vibrato which is slightly reminiscent of Fernando De Lucia. Riccardo Ristori may not be the subtlest of singers but he grabs every opportunity to make a strong portrait of Achilla. The weakest link among the soloists is Paola Pittaluga who almost ruins the role of Cornelia through her wobbly singing. Still the recording offers quite a lot of good music-making.

 

Competition is keen, however. The pick of the bunch may be René Jacobs on Harmonia Mundi with Jennifer Larmore in the title role, Barbara Schlick as Cleopatra and Bernarda Fink as Cordelia. It was recorded in 1991. I haven’t heard the more recent Archiv recording under Marc Minkowski, with Marijana Mijanovic, Magdalena Kozena and Anne Sofie von Otter, but it received rave reviews when it appeared. There are also several DVDs, including one from Copenhagen under Lars Ulrik Mortensen with Andreas Scholl and Inger Dam-Jensen and a Glyndebourne production conducted by William Christie with Sarah Connolly and Danielle de Niese. Any of these versions should be more recommendable than the one under consideration, which however is worth hearing for the thrilling Angelo Manzotti in the title role and for Alexandra Zabala’s partly ravishing Cleopatra.

 

Göran Forsling

 

 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.