Ivor Bolton, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Vesselina Kasarova, Anja Harteros – Händel: Alcina (2007/2022) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Ivor Bolton, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Vesselina Kasarova, Anja Harteros – Händel: Alcina (2007/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 03:14:03 minutes | 3,42 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Farao Classics

The quality of the vocal performances in this live recording of Alcina can be strongly correlated to the singers’ prior experience in the Baroque repertoire. Contralto Sonia Prina, with a solid background in Baroque opera, is absolutely stellar in the role of Bradamante, a woman impersonating a man in her quest to release her lover from the spells of the sorceress Alcina. Her technique is completely secure, her tone is clear and bright, her coloratura is dazzling, and her characterization is impassioned. Soprano Veronica Cangemi, as Alcina’s sister Morgana, infatuated with the man she takes Bradamante to be, is equally remarkable, singing with lightness, fluidity, and florid brilliance. Likewise, tenor John Mark Ainsley as Oronte, Alcina’s general, is a veteran of early opera performance, and he sings with extraordinary grace and power. As the leads, Alcina and her bewitched lover, Ruggiero, soprano Anja Harteros and mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova are very fine, but they don’t have the idiomatic security to bring the music and drama fully and easily alive. The role of Alcina seems to fall a little high for Harteros (whose recording of Violetta revealed her as a star of the first magnitude), and she doesn’t bring the luster and authority to the part that Renée Fleming does on the Erato recording. The timbre of Vesselina Kasarova’s dark mezzo is well suited to the trousers role or Ruggiero, and while she doesn’t have the effortless fluency with the idiom as some of the other soloists, her singing is often gorgeous, as in “Mi lusinga il dolce affetto.” The live recording captures the urgency of the recitatives, which nicely move the action along. Ivor Bolton leads the Bayerischen Staatsorchester, obviously operating with reduced forces, in a nuanced and expressive reading of the score. For a recording of this caliber, there is a surprisingly high level of stage noise, which the listener may be willing to accept as a tradeoff for the energy of the live performance.

Tracklist:

1. Bayerisches Staatsorchester – Alcina, Act 1 – Overture
2. Bayerisches Staatsorchester – Alcina, Act 1 – Musette, Menuet
3. Veronica Cangemi – Alcina, Act 1 – Oh Dei! Quivi non scorgo alcun sentiero!
4. Veronica Cangemi – Alcina, Act 1 – O s’apre al riso
5. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 1 – Questo è il cielo de’ contenti
6. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 1 – Gavotte, Sarabande, Gavotte
7. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 1 – Ecco L’infido
8. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 1 – Di’, cor mio, quanto t’amai
9. Sonia Prina – Alcina, Act 1 – Generosi guerrier, deh!
10. Deborah York – Alcina, Act 1 – Chi m’insegna il caro padre?
11. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 1 – Mi ravvisi, Ruggier, dimmi?
12. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 1 – Di te mi rido, semplice stolto
13. Veronica Cangemi – Alcina, Act 1 – Qua dunque ne veniste / … Lo sono tua difesa
14. Sonia Prina – Alcina, Act 1 – È gelosia
15. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 1 – Lo dunque
16. John Mark Ainsley – Alcina, Act 1 – Semplicetto! A donna credi?
17. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 1 – Ah, infedele, infedel / … Regina, il tuo soggiorno
18. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 1 – Si son quella
19. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 1 – Se nemico mi fossi / … Bradamante favella?
20. Veronica Cangemi – Alcina, Act 1 – A quai strani perigli / Fuggi, cor mio, ti affretta!
21. Veronica Cangemi – Alcina, Act 1 – Tornami a vagheggiar
22. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Col celarvi a chi v’ama un momento
23. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Taci, taci, codardo
24. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Qual portento mi richiama
25. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Atlante, dove sei?
26. Christopher Purves – Alcina, Act 2 – Pensa a chi geme
27. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Qual odio ingiusto contro me?
28. Sonia Prina – Alcina, Act 2 – Vorrei vendicarmi
29. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Chi scopre al mio pensiero
30. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Mi lusinga il dolce affetto
31. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 2 – S’acquieti il rio sospetto / … E la tua pace
32. Veronica Cangemi – Alcina, Act 2 – Ama, sospira
33. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 2 – Non scorgo nel tuo viso
34. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Mio bel tesoro
35. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 2 – Regina; io cerco in vano
36. Deborah York – Alcina, Act 2 – Tra speme e timore
37. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 2 – Regina, sei tradita
38. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 2 – Ah! Mio cor!
39. Veronica Cangemi – Alcina, Act 2 – Or, che dici, Morgana? / … All’ offesa, il disprezzo giunge L’ingrata?
40. John Mark Ainsley – Alcina, Act 2 – È un folle, è un vile affetto
41. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Ed è ver che mi narri? / … Eccomi a’ piedi tuoi
42. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 2 – Verdi prati, selve amene
43. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 2 – Ah! Ruggiero crudel
44. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 2 – Ombre pallide, lo so, mi udite
45. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 2 – Il Ballo
46. Bayerisches Staatsorchester – Alcina, Act 3 – Sinfonia
47. Veronica Cangemi – Alcina, Act 3 – Voglio amar e disamar
48. Veronica Cangemi – Alcina, Act 3 – Credete al mio dolore
49. John Mark Ainsley – Alcina, Act 3 – M’inganna, me n’avveggo
50. John Mark Ainsley – Alcina, Act 3 – Un momento di contento
51. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Molestissimo incontro!
52. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Ma quando tornerai
53. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 3 – Tutta d’armate squadre
54. Vesselina Kasarova – Alcina, Act 3 – Sta nell’Ircana pietrosa tana
55. Sonia Prina – Alcina, Act 3 – Vanne tu seco ancora
56. Sonia Prina – Alcina, Act 3 – All’alma fedel
57. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Niuna forza lo arresta
58. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Mi restano le lagrime
59. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Sin per le vie del sole
60. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Già vicino è il momento
61. Deborah York – Alcina, Act 3 – Barbara! Io ben lo so
62. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Le lusinghe, gl’inganni, non udir più
63. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Non è amor, nè gelosia
64. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Prendi, e vivi
65. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Dall’orror di notte cieca
66. Bayerisches Staatsorchester – Alcina, Act 3 – Tamburino
67. Anja Harteros – Alcina, Act 3 – Doppo tante amare pene

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