Handel: Alcina

“…Norma Procter's impressive Bradamante stands the test of time, and Sutherland's crystalline singing reminds us that she was an important Handelian champion.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2009

“Sutherland, sounding galactic and supernatural, stops you in your tracks with every utterance, while Wunderlich rages, swoons and finally abandons passion for reason in ways that break your heart. The remastering is tremendous, too.” The Guardian, 14th August 2009 *****

“Despite relatively numerous orchestral strings (and mono sound), this live concert broadcast anticipates many present-day approaches to staging Handel.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 ****

“It would be hard to devise a septet of soloists more stylish than those on the reissued EMI set, with Arleen Auger brilliant and warm-toned...Della Jones stands out in the breeches role of Ruggiero and Eiddwen Harrhy as Morgana is no less brilliant...Hickox underlines the contrasts of mood and speed, conveying the full range of emotion.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ***

“This Alcina is polished and passionate, the standard of da capo ornamentation unsurpassed. The acoustical environment of this recording is near-perfect. Every detail can be clearly heard, in part because of the minimal instrumental resources Curtis employs and his keen sense of architecture and pacing of Handel's music. Technically, DiDonato is superb: her Alcina is a complex, feminine creature, vain and vindictive - listen to her spine-tingling performance of "Ombre pallide" and the recitative that precedes it in Act 2.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2009

“…mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato brings firebrand fioritura (vocal embellishment), impeccably naturalistic recitative and an inimitable everywoman pathos to the soprano title-role.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2009 ***

“. Here Joyce DiDonato sings the marvellous title role with dramatic fire and unfailing musicality. Her suitors Ruggiero (Maite Beaumont) and Bradamante (Sonia Prina) are well contrasted, and there’s a delightful Morgana from Karina Gauvin. The scholar-conductor Alan Curtis leads his band Il Complesso Barocco to play with careful elegance and the performance as a whole is refreshingly crisp and disciplined.” The Telegraph, 28th April 2009 ****

“Joyce DiDonato takes the title role. Nothing about Alcina is quite what it seems, and here we have a mezzo singing a soprano's music with considerable finesse, but with occasional moments of telltale strain. This is also a performance of immense calculation, so that while we're aware of Alcina's allure, we're also continually questioning her emotional veracity...Karina Gauvin is to die for as Morgana, and Kobie van Rensburg is the best of all Orontes.” The Guardian, 10th April 2009 ****

“Joyce DiDonato’s velvety, sensuous mezzo is a surprising choice for Handel’s majestically tormented sorceress, darker of voice than Sutherland, and she might have trouble with higher-lying phrases in the theatre. She rises magnificently to the challenges of Alcina’s great, wrenching scenes of despair and is preferable both to Sutherland’s droopy wordlessness and Fleming’s smoochy, Handel-on-Broadway solecisms. Maite Beaumont’s Ruggiero is in the Berganza class, while Karina Gauvin (Morgana), Sonia Prina (Bradamante), Kobie van Rensburg (Oronte) and Vito Priante (Melisso) bring character and impeccable stylistic credentials to the supporting roles. This is the must-have Alcina on disc.” Sunday Times, 22nd March 2009 ****

“Handel's music is beyond magnificent and DiDonato's sorceress Alcina proves a triumph of dramatic fire. Karina Gauvin's Morgana suffers most beautifully; Maite Beaumont's hero Ruggiero less so. Yet no voice ruins the show, and Alan Curtis's Il Complesso Barocco creates orchestral beauty with every note.” The Times, 14th March 2009 ****

“Alan Curtis clearly welcomed the chance to add this masterpiece to the gradually expanding list of Handel operas he has recorded with Il Complesso Barocco. This Alcina is polished and passionate, the standard of da capo ornamentation unsurpassed. The acoustical environment of this recording is near-perfect. Every detail can be clearly heard, in part because of the minimal instrumental resources Curtis employs and his keen sense of the architecture and pacing of Handel's music.
Handel knew his singers' individual strengths and played to them. Curtis, too, knows how to coax the best from his singers. Joyce DiDonato, Maite Beaumont and Karina Gauvin have worked with him before and contribute vividly informed portrayals of the principal characters that stand comparison with the best performances on previous recordings. Technically, DiDonato is superb: her Alcina is a complex, feminine creature, vain and vindictive – listen to her spine-tingling performance of 'Ombre pallide' and the recitative that precedes it in Act 2.
Beaumont is at ease in Carestini's role as Ruggiero – heroic when required (as in 'Bramo di trionfar', the discarded aria, originally in Act 1 scene 7, that Curtis reinstated) – and more than equal to the demands of the much-loved 'Verdi prati' (Act 2). Gauvin, her silk-clad Morgana fully as manipulative as Alcina, and Prina, the ever faithful Bradamante, each bring tremendous spirit and sensuousness to their roles. If Van Rensburg's Oronte wavers momentarily in Act 3, Priante's steadfast Melisso and Cherici's courageous Oberto show the way. This could well be the Alcina we've been waiting for.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“[DiDonato is] dramatically very impressive, while Maite Beaumont is a strong Ruggiero and Karina Gauvin a seductive Morgana.” Penguin Guide, 2010 ***

“Christie is very much concerned with a smooth and generally rich texture and with delicacy of rhythmic shaping. His management of the recitative could hardly be bettered and moments of urgency or of other kinds of emotional stress are tellingly handled. Sometimes he favours a rather sustained style in the arias, making the textures seem airless and heavy, and the lines within them too smooth. However, to set against it there's his exceptional delicacy of timing, his careful but always natural-sounding moulding of cadences and other critical moments in the score. Not many Handel interpreters show this kind of regard for such matters and it's a delight to hear Handel's music so lovingly nurtured; it also helps the singers to convey meaning. The cast is very strong. The title-role is taken by a mezzo, Patricia Bardon, who draws a firm and often slender line, with that gleam in her tone that can so enliven the impact of a lowish mezzo – the famous Mad Scene is magnificent. The Sleep Scene, with very sweet, soft-toned playing of the violettemarine, is lovely.
Hilary Summers offers a very sensitively sung Medoro, pure and shapely in line. Harry van der Kamp makes a finely weighty Zoroastro, with plenty of resonance in his lower register; the last aria in particular is done in rousing fashion. As Angelica, Rosemary Joshua's musicianship comes through in her attractive phrasing and timing. Rosa Mannion's Dorinda is no less full of delights, catching the character to perfection.
Hogwood's lighter orchestral textures are appealing but the refinement of detail in the newer set is equally admirable.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“‘Alcina is among the finest of Handels operas. The fine Erato set was recorded live at the Paris Opera. Christie too is masterly at avoiding any monotony in the long sequence of da capo arias, with the recitative superbly timed and reprises beautifully decorated. It is striking that the star singers here are not just brilliant in tackling elaborate passage-work and ornamentation, but are stylishly scrupulous in avoiding unwanted aspirates. Renée Fleming is in glorious voice as Alcina… Natalie dessay as Alcina’s sister, Morgana, relishes the challenge…” Penguin Guide ***