G.F.Handel: Arias and Duets - Sandrine Piau, Sara Mingardo, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano

G.F.Handel: Arias and Duets
Sandrine Piau, Sara Mingardo, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano

George Frideric Handel Arias and Duets from Poro, Orlando, Radamisto, Flavio, Tamerlano, Ezio, Rinaldo, Alessandro, Amadigi, Ottone

Sandrine Piau : Soprano

Sara Mingardo : Contralto

Concerto Italiano

Rinaldo Alessandrini : Conductor

Recorded at the Institut Pontifical de Musique Sacree, Roma (Italy), 2008

Reviews:

Gramophone Music Magazine : Disc of the Month July 2009 (Click on image to enlarge)

MusicalCriticism.com : Dominic McHugh - 30 August 2009

 Such is the quality of nearly every single release from the French Naive label that one wonders how they manage it. The quantity of recordings emanating from the studios is almost more than one can keep up with, and much of it is of interesting and ambitious repertoire. The presentation quality is always great, often with attractive cardboard sleeves (and in an exquisitely-printed book form in the case of the Bach B minor Mass), and the photography and artwork are always eye-catching and individual.

Period performance practice is usually an aspect of the recordings, the majority of which are of music from the classical and baroque eras, and the emphasis is on performers who are experts in their repertoire rather than starry names, and although it's inevitable that some releases will stand out above the others, there's an air about the label that indicates that time and effort have been poured in on every level.

The disc which appeals to me most from this batch, and to which I have returned the most times, is a recital of Handel duets featuring Sandrine Piau and Sara Mingardo. These are two truly special artists who are underrated, in my opinion, but it has to be admitted that they each have a distinctive timbre that can work for or against them depending on the colleagues with whom they perform. It's a delight to discover, then, that they blend together perfectly, and as they both admit in the interview in the liner booklet, they share an instinctive vocal and musical affinity with one another. Six duets and a number of arias and overtures are presented on the set, from operas both widely familiar (Tamerlano, Orlando) and less well known (Poro, Ottone, Flavio, Alessandro). 72 minutes of intoxicating music are accompanied by Concerto Italiano under Rinaldo Alessandrini, ideal collaborators for Piau and Mingardo. This is definitely a disc to seek out.

Tracklist:

01. Poro, Re delle Indie HWV 28 (da metastasio) : Ouverture [0:03:21.22]
02. Duetto Cleofide e Poro : "Caro! Dolce! Amico amplesso" [0:02:47.32]
03. Orlando HWV 31 (da ariosto) : Recitativo (III, 8) [0:00:38.15]
04. Duetto Angelica e Orlando : "Finche prendi ancora il sangue" [0:03:07.57]
05. Radamisto HWV 12a (haym) : Recitativo (II, 13) [0:00:42.07]
06. Duetto Radamisto e Zenobia : "Se teco vive il cor" [0:03:16.65]
07. Flavio, Re dei Longobardi HWV 16 (haym) : Recitativo (II,11) [0:00:42.20]
08. Aria Emilia : "Ma chi punir desio" [0:06:58.14]
09. Tamerlano HWV 18 (haym) : Recitativo (II, 8) [0:00:26.09]
10. Aria Andronico : "piu di una tigra altero" [0:04:08.44]
11. Duetto Asteria e Andronico : "Vivo in te" [0:07:51.30]
12. EzioHWV 29 (metastasio) : Recitativo (III, 12) [0:00:53.67]
13. Aria Fulvia " Ah! Non son io che parlo" [0:07:13.37]
14. Rinaldo HWV 7a (rossi) : Recitativo (I, 6) [0:01:07.64]
15. Duetto Almirena e Rinaldo : "Scherzano sul tuo volto" [0:03:26.64]
16. Alessandro HWV 21 (rolli) : Ouverture [0:05:36.66]
17. Recitativo (I, 6) [0:00:15.20]
18. Aria Lisaura : "No piu soffrir non voglio" [0:03:43.33]
19. Recitativo (I, 9) [0:00:23.16]
20. Aria Alessandro : "Da un breve riposo" [0:04:47.04]
21. Amadigi di Gaula HWV 11 (haym) : Recitativo (II, 5) [0:00:32.32]
22. Aria Dardano : "Pena tiranna" [0:06:00.02]
23. Ottone, Re di Germania HWV 15 (haym) : Recitativo [0:00:31.63]
24. Duetto Theofane e Ottone : "A teneri affeti" [0:03:55.71] 

Originally posted by Ice on September 11th, 2009