Composer: Georg Friedrich Handel
Performer: Dame Joan Sutherland, Fritz Wunderlich, Bernhard Zimmermann, Norma Procter, Nicola Monti, Jeannette van Dijck, Thomas Hemsley, Kölner Rundfunkchor
Orchestra: Cappella Coloniensis
Conductor: Ferdinand Leitner
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Alexandre Bak
Release: 2023
Size: 2.69 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Alcina, HWV 34
CD 01
Overture
01. Grave
02. Allegro
03. Musette
04. Menuet
Act I
05. Oh Dei! Quivi non scorgo
06. O s’apre al riso
07. Questo è il cielo de’ contenti
08. Ballo Gavotte
09. Ballo Menuett
10. Ballo Alla breve
11. Ecco l’infido
12. Di’ cor mio, quanto t’amai
13. Mi ravvisi, Ruggier
14. Di te mi rido, semplice stolto
15. Qua dunque
16. È gelosia, forza è d’amore
17. La cerco invano
18. Semplicetto! a donna credi?
19. Ah, infedele, infedel!
20. Se nemico mi fossi
21. La bocca vaga
22. A quai strani perigli
23. Tornami a vagheggiar
CD 02
Act II
01. Col celarvi a chi v’ama un momento
02. Qual portento mi richiama
03. Atlante, dove sei?
04. Pensa a chi geme
05. Qual odio
06. Vorrei vendicarmi del perfido cor
07. Chi scuopre al mio pensiero
08. Mi lusinga il dolce affetto
09. S’acqieti – E la tua pace
10. Ama, sospira, ma non t’offende
11. Non scorgo
12. Mio bel tesoro
13. Regina, sei
14. Ah! mio cor! schemito sei!
15. Or, che dici
16. E’ un folle, è un vil affetto
17. Eccomi
18. Verdi prati
19. Ah! Ruggiero crudel, tu non mi amasti!
20. Ombre pallide, lo so, mi udite
CD 03
Act III
01. Sinfonia
02. Voglio amare
03. Credete al mio dolore
04. Minganna
05. Un momento di contento
06. Molestissimo
07. Ma quando tornerai
08. Tutta d’armat
09. Sta nell’Ircana pietrosa tana
10. Niuna forza
11. Mi restano le lagrime
12. Sin per le vie
13. Le lusinghe
14. Non è amor, né gelosia
15. Prendi, e vivi. Ruggiero vuol la tua libertà
16. Dall’orror
17. Entrée
18. Tamburino
19. Dopo tante amare pene
I wish the Berlin studios would dedicate themselves to these recordings and do a real remaster. Unfortunately, the part here sounds rather worse than the DG 16/44 version.
Of course, this is not against you, but Qobuz should be made urgently aware that these remaster versions are not allowed to be offered as 24/96.
An interesting origin story, by the way.
At the first solo rehearsal on 9 May 1959, it turned out that the tenor Nicola Monti – still well remembered by Cologne audiences from his guest appearance at La Scala in La Sonnambula – had inadvertently rehearsed the wrong part: Oronte instead of Ruggiero. 1 In the remaining five days he did not have the confidence to learn the larger part again. Moreover, the part of Ruggiero, which Handel had written for the castrato Carestini, had been transposed to a register too low for Monti. It was also not ideally situated for Fritz Wunderlich, who was originally intended to play the dronte. But, as alto Norma Procter reports, he was happy to take up the challenge: “Don’t worry,” he reassured his colleague during the first run-through with chorus and orchestra, “I think I can do your part. He then sang the part by sight with such confidence, even in the most difficult ornaments, that he left the soloists and choristers speechless.