The fourth instalment of La Risonanza's survey of Handel's youthful Italian cantatas is devoted to two works probably composed for the Marquis Francesco Maria Ruspoli in Rome. There is no doubt that Arresta il passo (nicknamed 'Aminta e Fillide') is one of the young Handel's most likeable compositions. The Arcadian story of Aminta imploring Fillide to requite his love, and of her gradual melting towards his seduction, is told by La Risonanza in an affectionate and conversational way, with recitatives unhurried and performed with clarity, precision and elegance. Bonizzoni resists the temptation to ham things up too much, and directs the music with a judicious ear for striking yet tasteful sonority.
Sopranos Maria Grazia Schiavo (Aminta) and Nuria Rial (Fillide) achieve the elusive synthesis between stylised poetry, musical refinement and dramatic character. The radiant violin-playing in Fillide's 'Fu scherzo, fu gioco' is a delicately playful illustration of the text's reference to love being a joke and a game, and Rial sings the difficult vocal part effortlessly and with delicious sagacity. Schiavo is equally impressive in Aminta's 'Se vago rio', which has a spellbinding pizzicato string accompaniment and strange harmonic twists. Fillide's surprise at her emerging feelings of love for Aminta, and his increasing elation, are delightfully conveyed by all of the vocal and instrumental performers.
Clori, mia bella Clori (sung by Schiavo) also benefits from meticulous attention to detail, such as the exquisitely shaded duetting violins in 'Mie pupille'. La Risonanza once again show that Handel's youthful Italian compositions are breathtaking masterpieces of considerable refinement, subtlety and quality. •Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2010
Works:
• Handel: Aminta e Fillide (Arresta il passo) HWV 83
• Handel: Clori, mia bella Cloria HWV 92 TAK
8424562016156 Glossa GCD 921615 2xM3 99.00 23.00 CD 2 Lully, Jean-Baptiste Lully: Proserpine, Tragédie lyrique Le Concert Spirituel;Niquet, Hervé NIE Muzyka klasyczna Barok •Muzyka wokalna;•Opera NIE Present as a singer in the chorus of Les Arts Florissants in 1987 when William Christie put on Lully's Atys, [recorded for harmonia mundi] Niquet formed his own ensemble, Le Concert Spirituel that same year. Since that time he has balanced his own endeavours to stage (and record) key French tragédies with his other musical interests. Niquet's latest incursion into French Baroque opera comes with Lully's prologue and five-act Proserpine, joining Destouches' Callirhoé and Marais' Sémélé: a group which Glossa has been releasing in elegant editions over the last three years.Additionally, the recordings have all followed performances of the works, especially at the Opéra de Montpellier where Le Concert Spirituel is currently in residence. Three centuries after the first performance in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel pay tribute to the genius of Lully with a new recording of Proserpine made just after stagings in both Paris and Versailles.Together with a cast of top soloists, well-versed in the demands of French Baroque, singing and with his incomparable Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet once more conjures up a dramatic feast. TAK
8424562212046?? Glossa GCD 921204 F3 64.00 23.00 CD 1 Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach: Flute Concertos Ensemble Aurora;Gatti, Enrico NIE Muzyka klasyczna Barok •Muzyka kameralna;Flet poprzeczny NIE Marcello Gatti, Michele Barchi and the single strings of Ensemble Aurora are all superb, playing with grace and style. This disc is very warmly recommended."•Gramophone Magazine, April 2009
Works:
•Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV1050
• Bach, J S: Flute Concerto in B minor
• Bach, J S: Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV1067
• Bach, J S: Triple Concerto in D major BWV1050A