George Frideric Handel lavished particular attention on the contralto or mezzo-soprano roles in his operas and oratorios throughout the years. What better way to celebrate the lush arias that Handel composed for his contralto stars than with Avery Amereau—described by The New York Times as "an extraordinary American alto on the rise"—alongside Handelian scholar Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Featuring virtuosic, passionate, stirring arias throughout Handel's composing career—from his early Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (1708) to his later Alcina (1735)—this recording brings to life the incredible music once sung by Nicolini, Senesino, and Carestini. This debut album by Amereau marks the last recording of Nicholas McGegan at the helm of PBO.

This third double CD set completes Gilbert Rowland's survey of these Handel's groundbreaking solo keyboard music, works that began to free the form from the formal constraints of Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue. Forty-plus years of recitals, appearances at major festivals in several countries, together with regular broadcasts, have helped to establish Gilbert Rowland's reputation as one of Britain's leading harpsichordists. The standard of playing is very high indeed... a most enjoyable recording. (The Consort on Vol.1)

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

These are exceptionally well-played renditions of works that have had perhaps more attention--in almost every shape, size, and instrumental configuration imaginable--than any other 18th-century orchestral music. Crisp, clean, snappy articulation, rich-toned horns, bright trumpets, mellifluous strings and winds, and ideal, unhurried tempos and well-balanced ensemble sound makes for a very satisfying hour-plus concert.

The period-instrument Italian orchestra (unusual to hear in this music!) is very ably led by Federico Guglielmo, who chose to follow recommendations recently asserted by Christopher Hogwood particularly regarding performing order of the 22 individual pieces that make up the suites in D, G, and F. This means that instead of the traditional divisions into suites, we hear one compilation of all the movements, beginning with the F major (which is ordered exactly the way it is in my old Eulenburg pocket score from 1973) and continuing with a mixture of the G major and D major movements. Unless you've got a particular movement sequence firmly stuck in your consciousness and you can't jar it loose, L'Arte dell'Arco's program order won't bother you at all. What may bother you, however, is an annoying clicking/clacking noise that in a couple of places disrupts the otherwise demonstration-quality sound (most notable on tracks 7 and 8).

Nevertheless, the highlights are many, including some very lovely ornamentation by the solo flute in the G major Menuet, exciting brass playing throughout, and a Fireworks Overture that's as rousing and artfully executed as you'll ever hear. This is a release that manages to make a memorable impression in a very crowded field--a significant achievement, and an imposing calling-card for this fine orchestra.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Part of BR Klassik’s Paths to Music series, this new release showcases Handel’s most famous work, The Messiah. Markus Vanhoefer provides an enlightening introduction to the work, which is performed here by the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the B’Rock Belgian Baroque Orchestra Ghent. Thanks to its special homogeneous sound and its stylistic versatility, covering every area of choral singing from the medieval motet to contemporary music, and from oratorios to operas, the Bavarian Radio Chorus enjoys top prestige throughout the world. Its main points of focus fall on the great choral symphonies, contemporary vocal music and joint performances with such period ensembles as Il Giardino Armonico, Concerto Köln and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin complete their Handel trilogy with this recording of the Op. 3 concerti grossi. Even if this selection of concertos was most likely compiled by Handel’s publisher rather than by the composer himself, the overall quality and colorful nature of the music contained do make it a powerful “opus”. With their historically-informed and lively playing, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and concertmaster Georg Kallweit demonstrate why many consider them the best baroque ensemble of today. The ensemble’s first PENTATONE album, Cantata (2018) with countertenor Bejun Mehta, won a Diapason d’or. Their 2019 recording of the first six Op. 6 concerti grossi was hailed as “immaculately played … free of fashionable eccentricities” by The Sunday Times, while Klassik praised the ensemble’s playing as “eloquent”. Their following release with the remainder of the Op. 6 concertos (2020) was singled out by Music Web International for its unprecedented “lightness” and “brightness”.

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REVIEW:

The group's performances of Handel have been big and lush compared to others in the historical-performance field, and this set is no exception. Akademie für alte Musik's playing is expressive, with a humorous tinge in places. The Handel Op. 3 set is less coherent than the composer's later works in the genre, but it is all echt Handel, and there are many fine examples of compelling Handelian melody. These might be slightly old-fashioned Handel performances, but the factors that made the Akademie für alte Musik attractive in the first place are all still operative.

– AllMusic Guide (James Manheim)

Cleopatra, Adelaide, Alcina, Laodice, Medea, Atalanta, Melissa & Morgana: Audacious fighters, indomitable queens, and evil witches: On their debut album, soprano Margriet Buchberger and the musicians of Il Giratempo put Handel’s strongest and most mesmerizing women center stage - where they rightfully belong. The “wild” women in Georg Friedrich Handel’s operas are truly queens of their own destiny. They rule over empires, fight in bloody battles, are courageous hunters and passionate lovers. Their adventures are gems in a sea of female characters bound to tradition and cliché. “Good girls” may go to heaven, but in baroque opera they do so either as victims or trophies. At best they come into their own when they sacrifice themselves virtuously to the mercy of fate and/or the men surrounding them. We have searched for strong, self-determined women – and found fascinating, modern characters, brought to life through beautiful music.

In this pioneering recording Dunedin Consort presents a brand new performing version of one of Handel’s greatest dramatic works, Samson. For the first time listeners can enjoy an authentic Handelian chorus, comprising both solo sopranos and boy trebles – a sonority largely unheard in the modern age. The singers available to Handel for the work’s first set ofa performances in 1743 varied considerably, leading many researchers to speculate upon the composer’s own preferences. But new thinking by director John Butt has led to the evolution of this recording and to what he considers to be the definitive performance in line with Handel’s intentions. This powerful oratorio – an opera in all but name – features soloists Sophie Bevan, Matthew Brook, Mary Bevan, Hugo Hymas and Jess Dandy, with Joshua Ellicott in the title role. Matching the revelatory historical practice begun in its award-winning recording of Messiah (Dublin Version, 1742), the soloists lead their sections to unite the solo and choral forces, creating a highly effective and cohesive sound. With rich orchestration and highlights such as ‘Let the bright seraphim’ and ‘Total eclipse’, Samson is Dunedin Consort’s most ambitious undertaking to date.

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REVIEW:

This new Samson now becomes the top recommendation: for its uniformly excellent soloists, its excitingly ‘present’ choral singing and, above all, its more urgent sense of theatre. Sophie and Mary Bevan, both natural Handelian stylists, are well-nigh ideal. Jess Dandy, a true contralto, is the oratorio’s voice of balm, singing the sublime prayer ‘Return, O God of hosts’ with warm, even tone and broad phrasing.

– Gramophone

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This opera, Handel's penultimate, is relatively direct, both in its scoring--just strings and oboes--and its plot: Rosmene (soprano) must choose between Tirinto (mezzo-soprano), whom she loves and who loves her, and Imeneo (bass-baritone), who rescued her from pirates. Rosmene's confidante Clomiri (soprano) loves Imeneo, but it is unrequited; he loves Rosmene. Argenio (bass) is Rosmene's father; he wants her to marry Imeneo. This simplicity might lead you to believe that the opera is lightweight or emotionally void (it was referred to as an "operetta" at its premiere), but it's remarkable how involved the listener gets in the plot. Until the very last moment we don't know who Rosmene will select, and furthermore, when she feigns madness because she must choose between duty and love, she either feigns it so well that we believe her too, or like Hamlet, she actually is mad--at least for a little while. She opts for duty and picks Imeneo, explaining in a brief final aria that she's like a boat at the mercy of the wind that has gone from one shore to another: "Dear deserted shore," she sings to Tirinto, "if fate took it elsewhere, how did the unfortunate boat commit a sin?"


So we are dealing with an essentially four-character opera (Argenio just worries and prods) in which only one of the lovers--Imeneo--winds up happy in the end. Except for one big scene for Tirinto, all of the arias are short and the recitatives are even shorter. One interesting touch, before Rosmene's decision, is Imeneo singing a half-minute arioso of longing, then a few minutes later Tirinto sings the same tune, and then a few minutes after that the two men sing it as a duet! Handel's final chorus is not joyous; it extols the primacy of a noble ideal and reason and is in a rather sad minor key. This is a subtle, rather than simple opera.


A recording of this work appeared 15-or-so years ago on Vox. It cut and re-arranged arias, and except for Julianne Baird's beautiful, moving Rosmene, it yields in every way to this new CPO set. (A one-CD, abbreviated version in German appeared on Berlin Classics more than 30 years ago, but it is out of the running.) Tirinto is the major role (it was the castrato role at the opera's ill-fated premiere) and Ann Hallenberg is simply wonderful. She sings with real heart, and while I would have preferred a somewhat darker sound, that is only a personal preference. She has a lovely legato and sings with ardor. Johanna Stojkovic's Rosmene is excellent as well--as I said, not as sheerly lovely as Baird on Vox, but elegant, pure of tone, and convincing in her "I'm-half-crazy" scene. Siri Karoline Thornhill sings Clomiri with a bright, girlish tone that contrasts well with Rosmene's; Clomiri only wants to be happy. Light baritone Kay Stiefermann is a fine Imeneo--easy with coloratura, noble, never a bully--and bass Locky Chung rounds out the cast as Argenio. Along with the orchestral forces under Andreas Spering, this is true, wisely performed, dramatically infused Handel. It's also highly recommended, and don't let its modest feel fool you: this is Handel at his most psychologically astute. [3/16/2004]
--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

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A glance at ensemble concert plans, opera and festival programmes and recording catalogues shows that George Frederick Handel's music enjoys enormous and unwavering popularity today. Even during his lifetime, Handel's works could be heard in his homeland as well as in his adoptive country. Following a roaring success as "Caro Sassone" among the Italians his fame spread like wildfire throughout Europe before the composer finally settled among the British in London. This release from Le Petit Concert Baroque presents some of Handel's most famous selections, including several pieces from the opera "Rinaldo," from which this album takes it's title.