Bonynge: Handel – Alcina (3 CD, APE)

Audio CD
SPARS Code: A-D
Number of Discs: 3
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: Decca
Size: 993 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

# Alcina, opera, HWV 34
Composed by George Frideric Handel
Performed by London Symphony Orchestra
with Monica Sinclair, Teresa Berganza, Ezio Flagello, Luigi Alva, Graziella Sciutti, George Malcolm, Mirella Freni, Joan Sutherland
Conducted by Richard Bonynge

# Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17
Composed by George Frideric Handel
Performed by New Symphony Orchestra of London
with Margreta Elkins, Richard Conrad, Joan Sutherland, Monica Sinclair, Hubert Dawkes, Marilyn Horne
Conducted by Richard Bonynge

Disc 1:
01. Alcina / Act 1 – Overture…Oh Dei!
02. Alcina / Act 1 – O s’apre al riso
03. Alcina / Act 1 – Questo è il cielo de’ contenti
04. Alcina / Act 1 – Di’ cor mio, quanto t’amai
05. Alcina / Act 1 – Sin per le vie del sole
06. Alcina / Act 1 – Di te mi rido, semplice stolto
07. Alcina / Act 1 – Chi m’insegna il caro padre
08. Alcina / Act 1 – E gelosia, forza è d’amore
09. Alcina / Act 1 – Bramo di trionfar
10. Alcina / Act 1 – Semplicetto! a donna credi?
11. Alcina / Act 1 – Si, non quella, non più bella
12. Alcina / Act 1 – La bocca vaga
13. Alcina / Act 1 – Tornami a vagheggiar
14. Alcina / Act 1 – Gavotte I – Sarabande – Menuet – Gavotte II
15. Alcina / Act 2 – Musette – Menuet
16. Alcina / Act 2 – Col celarvi a chi v’ama un momento
17. Alcina / Act 2 – Qual portento mi richiama
18. Alcina / Act 2 – Pensa a chi geme
19. Alcina / Act 2 – Vorrei vendicarmi del perfido cor
20. Alcina / Act 2 – Mi lusinga il dolce affetto

Disc 2:
01. Alcina / Act 2 – S’acquieti il rio sospetto
02. Alcina / Act 2 – Ama, sospira, ma non t’offende
03. Alcina / Act 2 – Mio bel tesoro
04. Alcina / Act 2 – Tra speme e timore
05. Alcina / Act 2 – Ah! mio cor! schemito sei!
06. Alcina / Act 2 – E’ un folle, è un vil affetto
07. Alcina / Act 2 – Verdi prati, selve amene
08. Alcina / Act 2 – Ah! Ruggiero crudel, tu non mi amasti!
09. Alcina / Act 2 – Ombre pallide, lo so, mi udite
10. Alcina / Act 2 – Ballet
11. Alcina / Act 3 – Sinfonia…Voglio amar e disamar
12. Alcina / Act 3 – Credete al mio dolore
13. Alcina / Act 3 – Un momento di contento
14. Alcina / Act 3 – Ma quando tornerai
15. Alcina / Act 3 – Sta nell’Ircana pietrosa tana

Disc 3:
01. Alcina / Act 3 – Vanne tu seco ancora
02. Alcina / Act 3 – Mi restano le lagrime
03. Alcina / Act 3 – Barbara! io ben lo so
04. Alcina / Act 3 – Non è amor, né gelosia
05. Alcina / Act 3 – Prendi, e vivi.Ruggiero vuol la tua libertà
06. Alcina / Act 3 – Dopo tante amare pene
07. Giulio Cesare / Act 1 – Priva son d’ogni conforto
08. Giulio Cesare / Act 1 – “Tu la mia stella sei”
09. Giulio Cesare / Act 1 – Va tacito e nascosto
10. Giulio Cesare / Act 2 – “V’adoro, pupille”
11. Giulio Cesare / Act 2 – Sì, spietata, il tuo rigore sveglia
12. Giulio Cesare / Act 2 – Venere bella
13. Giulio Cesare / Act 2 – Se pietà di me non senti
14. Giulio Cesare / Act 3 – “Piangerò la sorte mia”
15. Giulio Cesare / Act 3 – Aure, deh, per pietà
16. Giulio Cesare / Act 3 – Sperai ne m’ingannai
17. Giulio Cesare / Act 3 – Da tempeste il legno infranto

Bonynge or Christie? A feast of glorious Handel singing is provided by both

I own two superficially very different recordings of this lovely opera and thought it might be helpful to compare them, as both star the reigning Handel diva of their day. It was this role which introduced many to “La Stupenda” and Renée Fleming has made a point of keeping Handel in the forefront of her repertoire despite her forays into verismo.

To label the 1962 Decca recording “grossly inauthentic” is a bit rich; people who dismiss it on the grounds of being old-fashioned remind me of those who claim sex was invented in the 1960’s. Obviously there a few cuts and there is little HIP practice – how could there be? – but the spirit is right and it is blessed with an array of stellar voices accompanied most sensitively and intelligently by Bonynge directing a gorgeous-sounding LSO. Nonetheless, Christie’s 1999 live account at the Paris Opera for Erato was also a great occasion and offers a complete, wholly satisfying, historically informed performance by the best Handel singers to be found at that time. The playing of Les Arts Florissants avoids period scratchiness and is in fact very elegant. The interesting thing about Christie’s direction is that he confounds those who expect a period performance to be all Tiggerish bounce; he permits some daringly leisurely tempi to accommodate the creamy effulgence and emotive indulgence of Fleming’s Alcina. This brings the two recordings, separated by nearly forty years, closer together in style than you might have thought.

I love both and wouldn’t be without either – although I admit to succumbing more readily to the vocal glamour of the older cast than to the more sprightly delivery of Christie’s performance. Both recordings feature singers with immensely characterful voices rich of tone, capable of hitting top notes without nudging, negotiating intricate runs without smudging and producing authentic trills without fudging.

The surprise of the earlier recording for me was the strength and assertiveness of Teresa Berganza’s lower register in combination with wholly secure, shining top notes. She is the singer who most outshines her counterpart, good though Susan Graham is. In showpiece arias – of which there are so many in this miraculous opera – Berganza delivers more glamour than Graham who can sound – well – just ordinary, especially in the lower reaches of her voice around the repeated G. Try “Verdi prati” to hear what I mean; Berganza is far more alluring and voluptuous of tone here. Elsewhere, Graham is more satisfying and always firm and musical. Neither has a huge voice but I find Berganza more thrilling and overtly involving. There is little to separate the virtuosity of Kathleen Kuhlmann and Monica Sinclair as Bradamante; both are mightily impressive and convincing in what is for most of the opera a travestito role, as Bradamante is disguised as her own brother.

Both Sutherland and Fleming are every inch divas; the lower Baroque pitch helps the latter sound more at ease given the effulgence of her creamy voice, whereas the higher pitch helps Sutherland shine in her true Fach. It is a great bonus to have celebrated singers such as Mirella Freni and Ezio Flagello is supporting roles; I like the extra heft Flagello brings to the role of Melisso with his treacly bass, whereas Naouri is more refined, if a tad bland. Both Graziella Sciutti and Natalie Dessay sing Morgana with distinction, but again, I find the older singer more winning, charming and vulnerable.

The clincher for some will be the provision of a 50 minute bonus of excerpts from “Giulio Cesare” recorded in 1963, starring Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Margreta Elkins and the formidable Monica Sinclair once again – plus one unfortunate aria from windy, tremulous tenor Richard Conrad as Sesto. Sutherland is a bit droopy but her diction is passable while her singing and ornamentation as sheer vocalisation are extraordinary.

“Alcina” and “Giulio Cesare” must be at the top of any list of Handel’s best operas, being brimful of lovely melody and striking drama, so to have most of one and some of the other sung so superbly makes the earlier Decca recording very attractive but Christie’s full version offers the obvious attraction of having three modern divas in a modern edition complying with the best of HIP practice. I want to be able to hear both these glamorous sets, as the mood takes me.