Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar)

“finely managed and skilfully delivered by a strong team of singing actors. None more so than Natalie Dessay's Cleopatra, maybe past her first flush of vocal youth but still looking glamorous and singing with considerable technical and expressive command. Lawrence Zazzo's Caesar matches her...Many good things, then, not least in Emmanuel Haïm's conducting” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 ***

“this is a radical production in that, instead of American oil barons or Bollywood dancers moonlighting in Vegas, the characters look surprisingly like ancient Romans and Egyptians. Zazzo's outstandingly imperious title-hero is the best sung and acted countertenor performance of the part I've encountered...Haim's admirable pacing and sensitivity for shapely phrasing are offset by convoluted continuo intruding during recitatives” Gramophone Magazine, December 2012

“Dessay brings real star quality to the part of Cleopatra, and Isabel Leonard is similarly inspired as Sextus; both project plenty of fire into their faster arias, and both are suitably plangent in their slower ones...Haim and her musicians do a good job by the score” MusicWeb International, December 2012

“David McVicar's 2005 staging, revived the following summer, provoked a deal of contrasting views among the critical fraternity but was adored by the Glyndebourne public. Chief cause of their delight was the overtly sexual, high-hoofing performance of Cleopatra by the irrepressible Danielle de Niese (who is accorded a delightful 22-minute narrative on her Glyndebourne experience among the extras here). Her vocal command and stage presence are spectacular in every sense, and from her first aria she utterly seduces her audience. McVicar took advantage of her attractive skills to build the opera around her personality. We are here in the high noon of British imperialism and the Ottoman Empire, with Caesar more like a late-19th-century English general than a Roman emperor, and with the Egyptian milieu heavily underlined by milling extras, now always a not-altogether welcome feature of a McVicar production. They clutter the stage and draw attention away from the principals, although one has to admit that the highly disciplined and often captivating choreography is brilliantly executed within Robert Jones's exotic sets. McVicar does at least allow the moments of serious drama to be played out without undue interference – such as the deeply moving duet that closes Act 1 and Cleopatra's 'Piangerò'. Finally it has to be said that only Glyndebourne allows for the rehearsal time to prepare such a complex and ingenious staging. The musical side of things is equally well prepared and thought-through under William Christie's knowledgeable and commanding direction. He manages to balance with the same finesse and care the light and serious parts of the score, even if his love for Handel leads him to a few self-indulgently slow tempi. The OAE play lovingly and with period skills for him. By the time of this DVD recording, near the end of the run, the whole thing moves with eloquence matched by elegance. De Niese sings her airy numbers as to the manner born, seconded by expertly erotic dancing. She manages most of the emotional substance of her sadder arias, but they sometimes seem wanting in the tonal weight ideally required. Sarah Connolly's thoroughly believable Caesar is sung with her firm tone and well schooled mastery of Handelian style, including subtle embellishments. This wilful and imperial Caesar manages to change moods as his music demands. Some of the most accomplished and tender Handelian singing comes from Patricia Bardon's moving Cornelia and Angelika Kirchschlager's concerned Sesto, although the latter does slightly overplay the character's seemingly neurotic state of mind following his father's brutal death. The young countertenor Christophe Dumaux playing Tolomeo is suitably brat-like and spoilt. He, like most of the cast, fulfils all the stringent demands of this very physical staging. Christopher Maltman makes Achilles as nasty as he should be. The sense of teamwork all round is confirmed in the interviews included in the extras. Robin Lough's DVD direction is faultless.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Though all of the performances are delivered with some intelligence Negine fails to draw much in the way of intensity from any of his singers, either individually or in confrontation. …any DVD Caesar has to measure itself against Glyndebourne's (on Opus Arte), which is going to take some beating.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 ***

“This is certainly the most insightful and intelligent for drama, and probably also the best for all-round musical consistency” Gramophone Magazine

“Francisco Negrin's production, though not without judiciously applied humour in a few places, is essentially of a serious nature (and more so than his lighter and brighter Sydney production, reviewed above). Unsurprisingly, this sympathetic approach suits Handel's operaseria to a tee. There are neither damaging large cuts nor ill-advised reordering of movements, and Negrin's ideas fully support the musico-dramatic nature of the characters as presented in the libretto and score. The modernistic setting laced with elements of ancient Egypt provides the platform for a dark and brooding drama.
Where some directors use tricks to amuse the audience, Negrin uses visual playfulness to illustrate a serious point about the characters (such as the contest between elevating thrones in 'Va tacito'). It is refreshing that at the end there is little doubt that the good guys have triumphed: Sesto is caked in Tolomeo's blood, which seems to mark his coming of age in a brutal world, but there is no attempt made to ridicule the victorious leading characters, who fully deserve their happy ending.
Andreas Scholl's singing is consistently astute, and his acting has advanced considerably in subtlety since his operatic debut in Glyndebourne's Rodelinda nearly a decade ago. However, this is an excellent team performance.
Inger Dam-Jensen performs with the ideal sincerity and emotiveness that Cleopatra's character too often lacks in superficial productions.
Tuva Semmingsen's Sesto sings with crystalclear phrasing ('Cara speme' is heart-stopping).
Christopher Robson's singing is weak but his acting as the nasty Tolomeo is superb in its timing of gestures (there is plenty of comedy in his scenes, but he is brutal and menacing rather than the simply camp idiot too often portrayed onstage). Lars Ulrik Mortensen's direction of the music from his harpsichord is well nigh perfect.
This is not the most flamboyant or fancy Giulio Cesare on DVD, but it is certainly the most insightful and intelligent for drama, and probably also the best for all-round musical consistency.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This lavish production by Mexican director Francisco Negrin blends imagery from the Classical world with some modern touches. The use of choreography enhances a staging in which every character has a clear idea of who they are and how they need to react to the swiftly shifting fortunes allotted them by the plot. It's handsome, dramatic and chic. Yvonne Kenny as Cleopatra in particular has fun singing an aria while naked in her bath of asses' milk. She also has, by some distance, the finest voice on show, though most of her fellow principals know exactly what to do with less glamorous instruments. Richard Hickox draws credible period style from the non-specialist orchestra, selects consistently effective tempos and maintains musical flow.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2005 ****

“Francisco Negrin's production of Giulio Cesare is remarkably satisfying. Richard Hickox's musical direction is exemplary, with timing, tempi and phrasing that never go awry. The moderninstrument orchestra plays without a trace of soggy over-indulgence. The singing is less uniformly ideal: Yvonne Kenny's gutsy coloratura is undone by wobbly intonation, and Elizabeth Campbell's Sesto inclines towards shrillness.
Rosemary Gunn's Cornelia isn't a convincing drop-dead gorgeous icon who could initiate the doom of lusting Egyptians, and her heavy vibrato obscures the melodic beauty of 'Priva son d'ogni conforto'. Stephen Bennett delivers a wonderful 'Tu sei il cor' which suggests that Achillas is capable of greater eloquence and sincerity than we'd suspected. Graham Pushee's lyrical Cesare is consistently marvellous: his superbly acted role as an enlightened ruler perfectly fits Negrin's concept of him as representing ideal kingship, which is how such figures were supposed to be interpreted by Handel's Haymarket audience.
This is by no means a historical Baroque staging, but Negrin ensures that each strand of the plot is faithful to both libretto and Handel's music. He takes some daring risks with staging while doing nothing to subvert the musical rhetoric or the purity of the narrative. He intelligently allows the soliloquy convention to be respected.
Unlike so many directors who do not understand Handel's dramatic power, he ensures that Cleopatra sings 'Piangerò' alone; the lack of distractions magnifies an intensely emotional moment.
The production nevertheless features plenty of clever stagecraft. The most significant liberty reaps handsome dividends: the role of Nireno is incidental in the score, yet the director imagines that he pulls all the strings behind the scenes to ensure that all the plot-strands resolve happily.
It's common to admire a Handel opera performance for its singing while deploring the staging; here, though, is a precious rare example of a production that's a joy.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Graham Pushee sings powerfully in the title-role with his cleanly-focused voice, offering immaculate articulation and phenomenal agility in the many formidable divisions. Opposite him is the superb Cleopatra of Yvonne Kenny, glamorous of person and voice. Happily, Hickox allows her big arias full expansiveness, bringing out their beauty.” Penguin Guide, 2010 ***

“This is a 1984 studio re-creation, with the original cast, of John Copley's ENO production.
Mackerras's performing edition is by no means literally 'authentic'; arias are removed, including much of Sextus's role, recitatives are trimmed, and much of Caesar's role is transposed – inevitably, since it was written for the exceptionally low contralto castrato Senesino.
The result is no travesty, however: it's fast-moving and dramatically satisfying, and conducted by Mackerras in the same spirit.
Copley also strives to avoid tedium, for instance backing da capo passages with stage activity – sometimes rather obviously. However, his staging, combining John Pascoe's warm-hued, vaguely 18th-century designs with more naturalistic acting, translates quite well to the screen – not least because the singers are so committed.
Janet Baker displays great Handelian affinity. She not only delivers these difficult, florid arias with fiery élan and appropriate ornament, but infuses them with a real emotional intensity that sweeps one over the credibility gap.
Sarah Walker makes the lachrymose Cornelia almost as intense, and Valerie Masterson carries off Cleopatra's gorgeous music with admirable if slightly self-conscious virtuosity and a kittenish seductiveness reminiscent of Vivien Leigh.
Della Jones is a splendid Sextus, and John Tomlinson a thunderously melodramatic Achilles.
Though James Bowman's hooting tone is rather obtrusive, he plays Ptolemy as a petulantly Farouk-ish villain to fine comic effect.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Janet Baker sings and acts commandingly in the title-role...[Jones, Bowman and Tomlinson] are all ideal in their roles, with Michael Stennett's sumptuous cotumes adding to the success of the production. Sir Charles Mackerras paces the music masterfully...The full, vivid studio sound makes this one of the very finest of the invaluable series of ENO opera recordings in English” Penguin Guide