Handel: Un' alma inamorata HWV 173

“Emma Kirkby, a seasoned Handelian, brings her considerable artistry to bear on some of [Handel's] most bold, moving and exciting music. Occasionally, particularly in the tragic 'Agrippina condotta a morire', one yearns for slightly darker shades than her naturally sunny voice can provide. Even so, here and in 'Notte placida e cheta', 'Un’ alma innamorata' and 'Figlio d’alte speranze', she and the [musicians] of London Baroque relish to the full the dramatic genius destined shortly to take London by storm.” Sunday Times, 24th August 2008 ***

“Emma Kirkby… sings four solo cantatas… These showpieces make immense technical demands… But splendid though such displays are, it is her sense of characterisation which sets her apart. She can 'rejoice, laugh and hope' with palpable rapture (Un' alma innamorata, HWV173), change mood like quicksilver in the great Scena of Agrippina (HWV110) where the queen, condemned to death by her own son, swings schizophrenically from inconsolable despair to furious anger. Outstanding.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2008 *****

“Emma Kirkby… is on superb form. Her interpretative intelligence and attention to words are a given but she can also catch a subtle mood, as in "Quel povero core" from Un' alman innamorata, whose sense of resigned torment is enhanced by a sensitive contribution from the solo violin.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008

“The largest single legacy of Handel's years in Italy (in his early twenties) were around 100 chamber cantatas, from which Emma Kirkby and London Baroque have picked out four excellent examples from the 30 or so featuring one or two violins alongside the solo voice and continuo. In this they face strong competition from La Risonanza's series with Italian singers on Glossa, but the clash does no damage to either group as both have distinct virtues. For some, of course, the presence of Emma Kirkby will be enough to seal the deal, and indeed she is on superb form. Early on there are a few signs of a lack of her usual instrumental precision; but by the time she is showing off her artless virtuosity in the final aria of Figlio d'alte speranze and striding easily through 'Orrida, oscura', the first aria of the compellingly dramatic Agrippina condottaa morire, all worries have long been banished.
Her interpretative intelligence and attention to words are a given but she can also catch a subtle mood, as in 'Quel povero core' from Un' almainnamorata, whose sense of resigned torment is enhanced by a sensitive contribution from the solo violin. Emanuela Galli captures this kind of intimate emotion even more affectingly in La Risonanza's performances, mind, but with a touch less vocal security.
The recorded sound, as often in London Baroque's recordings for BIS, is strangely resonant and steely. The 'Concerto a quattro' included here is claimed as a Handel work in its German 18th-century source but sounds like nothing of the kind.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Volume 1 of this series, featuring Invernizzi, was an award-winning hit, but this collection of Handel's early cantatas, fabulously sung by Galli, is better still.” Sunday Times Records of the Year

“Galli has a stylish approach, agile in fast movements, ornaments decorating rather than distorting Handel's lines. She is though, so bound up in the anguish of unrequited love, the common thread, that I longed for a moment of sustained line. Every note is a separate jewel, beautifully cut, but detached from those around it.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 ***

“…the Italian ensemble… deliver delectable performances at an unmatched level of thoughtful preparation, penetrating programming and artistic interpretation.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2007

“Once again La Risonanza deliver delectable performances at an unmatched level of thoughtful preparation, penetrating programming and artistic interpretation. This instalment contains five cantatas, four of which were composed in 1707 for Handel's principal Roman patron the Marquis Ruspoli (the origins of Notte placida e cheta are less clear). All of these pieces have been recorded before but never quite like this. Roberta Invernizzi is on sparkling form in the hunting cantata Diana cacciatrice and La Risonanza play with spirited elegance. The lion's share of the programme is sung by Emanuela Galli: Armidaabbandonata receives a performance that surpasses all previous versions (no mean feat – the discography includes good performances by Ann Murray, Emma Kirkby and Véronique Gens). Galli sings with intensely dramatic conviction yet never at the expense of poetic style or good taste, and is equally convincing whether revealing the eloquence of Armida's broken heart or conveying the viciousness of her anger at Rinaldo. Fabio Bonizzoni nurtures performances that illustrate the rhetorical power in Handel's music without ever over-egging the pudding: for instance, Galli's expression of the core question in Tu fedel? tucostante? is wonderfully convincing, and the softly duelling violins in 'Zeffiretti, deh! venite' are nothing short of perfection.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The dialogue between True's voice and Heidi Gröger's viola da gamba is delightful, and the comparatively weightless lower textures caused by the use of 8-foot violone feels absolutely right.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2010

“The fact that there is only one other recording of Un’ alma innamorata and no recording at all of the remaining three works on this disc currently in the catalogue would surely be recommendation enough for any lover of Handel’s vocal works. That the music is not only attractive and well crafted but performed so engagingly and with such little artifice makes a purchase almost mandatory. Veronika Winter engages with the texts in a straight-forward though far from strait-laced manner, relying less on histrionics and more on the affecting nature of her full and gorgeously affecting soprano voice…The fine recorded sound, bright and clear, is the icing on the cake of this laudable release.” Robert Levett, International Record Review