Handel: Cara speme (from Giulio Cesare)

“The voice that goes straight to the heart” Sunday Times

“…Magdalena Kožená beguiles and enchants throughout this captivating collection. The Czech mezzo's mature voice combines radiant purity with burnished intensity and…she negotiates Handel's quick-fire show-pieces with dazzling bravura. The musicians of Venice Baroque respond to her incantations with thrilling energy and passion. All in all, the results are completely spell-binding.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 *****

“With most items familiar from previous Handel aria anthologies, on paper this looks full of tired clichés. Thankfully, the stirring and passionate execution of Handel's music is anything but dull routine. KoOená and her Venetian accomplices might not be giving us anything deeply perceptive but everybody involved sounds as if they are engaged with the music. In particular, the Venice Baroque Orchestra sound admirably absorbed in the dramatic world of each aria.
KoOená has a good stab at this, too, but does not quite capture the personality and situation of each character. Alcina's heartbroken first encounter of a man being beyond her seductive power in 'Ah! mio cor!' is ravishing but its slowly creeping pathos is not a natural opener for a disc like this, and KoOená – albeit passionate – does not capture the depth of Alcina's complex psychological condition. An extrovert 'Cara speme' does not quite fit Sesto's emotional self-inquiry.
KoOená is much better at conveying the scheming Agrippina's anxious plea to the gods and 'Scherza infida' is finely judged, its best passages not too far off the benchmark set by Janet Baker, Sarah Connolly and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (alas, it is let down by the staccato B section). The most convincing synthesis of musical outpouring and dramatic mood is Melissa's 'Desterò dall'empia dite' (from Amadigi).
In Dejanira's mad scene from Hercules, KoOená's affected vowels and hammed-up insanity rob it of the poignancy that understatement achieves much better; Dejanira is a distraught heroine, not a lunatic shrieking that the Martians have landed. A similar approach makes for an over-egged mad scene from Orlando. But despite the frequent limitation of one-dimensional characterisation, these appealing performances have strength and colour.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

'A mesmerising performance by DiDonato, who flaunts spectacular technique’ (The Times)

“The sparks fly from the opening set, Rossini's La regata veneziana… as DiDonato seizes upon the songs' operatic impulses. There's a frenzied urgency in the second song, "Anzoleta co passa la regata", for example, that conveys the intense excitement of the race and the passionate palpitations of the woman watching her lover speed towards victory. Throughout, Julius Drake's affectionate, finely shaded playing is an absolute delight.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2006

“Sheer delight from first bar to last.” BBC Music Magazine

“The ever-increasing popularity of Handel and his contemporaries, and their employment of alto castratos, has encouraged the development of countertenors capable of similar vocal feats to the original interpreters of the heroic roles in these works. Among these David Daniels can certainly be counted as a leading contender. He displays and deploys his talent here in a wide range of arias reflective and dramatic. His amazing technique runs through Tamerlano's virtuoso 'A dispetto' and Bertarido's 'Vivi tiranno!' without a blemish in the sound and with every division in its place yet part of a confidently delivered whole: by and large Daniels's runs and embellishments are smoothly accomplished. In more reflective pieces such as Giulio Cesare's 'Aure, deh, per pietà' (he also tackles Sesto's 'Cara speme' from Giulio Cesare, a particularly liquid, subtle piece of singing), Bertarido's 'Dove sei?' and Ariodante's sad lament, 'Scherza infida', written for the great Senesino, he uses his impeccable Italian to express wide-ranging emotions. Throughout, Roger Norrington and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment give excellent support. The recording is blameless so there's every reason for readers to sample this fine exposition of the countertenor's art.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Here is a countertenor who, for once, gives an inkling of what the castrato voice did for Handel and his music ... Every track is a winner on this disc. More please.” Sunday Times