Handel: Tra le fiamme, HWV170 (Il consiglio)

The World Premiere of Handel’s Cantata “Mira Lilla gentile”.

This new recording offers two grand scale Cantatas, each in two different versions. The first version presents the solo voice in dialogue with violin, whereas the second version replaces the violin with the more sonorous and melancholy sounds of the cello.

Soprano Valentina Varriale is an upcoming star in the Early Music scene, she sings in opera productions of Jordi Savall and Ottavio Dantone, and has recently performed in the Festivals of Salzburg, Edinburgh and Dresden.

The instrumentalists play original instruments.

New recording, including liner notes on each work.

One of the greatest composers of the Baroque era, George Frideric Handel was born in Germany but spent most of his career living in London. He was something of a celebrity in his day - a status he enjoyed thanks to his prolific cultivation of opera.

Also ranking among Handel’s large vocal output are his cantatas, works that form the focus of this release. The disc brings together two different versions of Handel’s two lesser known cantatas, and includes the first ever recording of the two versions of Mira Lilla gentile. Largely neglected until now, these latter works tell the story of a young man’s unrequited love for Lilla, and while the earlier version contains a soprano solo alternating with a violin, the later version sees this instrument replaced by a cello.

The second pair of cantatas comprises the anonymous La caduta di Icaro and Handel’s Tra le fiamme HWV170, both of which use the same libretto by Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili. Here the CD switches from heartbreak to counsel against pride; with the text declaiming the legend of Icarus and Daedalus, Tra le fiamme is particularly striking for its rich assortment of instruments.

Soprano Valentina Varriale has been praised for her ‘highly focused tone’ (International Record Review, April 2011). Having studied at the Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majella in Naples, she has since performed a variety of roles with numerous opera companies and has appeared as Zeza in a filmed version of Leonardo Leo’s L’Alidoro. In her first recording for Brilliant classics, she is joined by members of Musica Perduta.

For the second Glossa Portrait release the spotlight falls upon the soprano Roberta Invernizzi. It was the inspired choice of Fabio Bonizzoni to involve the Milanese singer in his series of Le Cantate Italiane di Handel, and Invernizzi appeared on no less than five of the seven discs in that greatly-admired series. This 2-disc Portrait draws on those recordings to highlight the delicious characterisations of Invernizzi in Handel’s vivid and visceral portrayals of nymphs and goddesses such as Diana, Cloris, Amarilis, Lidia and Fili, Arcadian characters one and all but nonetheless human in personality.

Roberta Invernizzi is gifted with an ability to master the technical, expressive and temperamental challenges set by Baroque composers such as Vivaldi, Monteverdi and Alessandro Scarlatti and she has also added a scintillating theatrical verve to many of the incursions into Neapolitan opera buffa in the company of Antonio Florio.

This CD is also part of the Souvenir Anniversary Series and is mid-price. “Siegfried Pank and the Mitteldeutsche Barocksolisten surprise with virtuoso pieces from the late period of the viola da gamba, in which this instrument can again shine soloistically….A rewarding rarity!” Applaus

Handel’s cantatas represent an important but until recently little-known area of his work. Even now newly discovered works are found and performed to much excitement in the media and among lovers of Handel’s music. They were written during his time in Rome from 1707/8, and were intended for private use. They range from miniatures consisting of two arias, recitative and a basso continuo, to large scale works with all the drama of his operas, complete with named characters, a plot, and large orchestral forces.

This CD contains the remarkable ‘Tra le fiamme’, written for Cardinal Pamphilj, who provided the text. The story concerns a young man who’s heart is playing for amusement and affection ‘in the flames’, but is being deceived by ‘charm and beauty’. He considers the fact that very few people escape the flames of love safely, and without being hurt. The story then turns to the example of Daedalus and his son Icarus, and how man seldom learns from history.