Gramophone – September 2019

gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONESEPTEMBER 2019111

OPERA REVIEWS

‘Handel’sQueens’

‘Cuzzoni&Faustina’

AriostiCaioMarzioCoriolano– RendialPadre

inmelaigliaBononciniAstianatte– Ascoltao

iglio;Deh!lasciao core;Menuet;Sentochegià

il pensierGreeneLaLibertàHandelAdmeto–

Gelosia,spietataAletto.Alessandro– Allasua

gabbiad’oro;Placal’alma;Solitudiniamate.

GiulioCesareinEgitto– Datempesteil legno

infranto.Ottone– È taleOtton?... Falsa

immagine.Riccardoprimo– Il volocosìidoal

dolce.Scipione– Scogliod’immotafronte.

Tolomeo– Elisachericerchi... Voglioamore

HasseArtaserse– Micredispietata?.Dalisa–

Sefosseil miodilettoLeoIl Ciroriconosciuto–

QuelnomeseascoltoOrlandiniNerone– Stelle,

tirannestellePollaroloAriodante– Sinfonia;

SerbalebellelagrimePorporaPoro– Son

prigionerad’amoreTorriAmadisdiGrecia–

Lasuadisperazione... Sea ammollireil crudo

amanteVinciL’Elpidia– Deatrifrome,astro

fecondo(arrHandel)VivaldiScanderbeg– Fra

cateneognorpenando;Nellemieselvenatìe

MaryBevan,LucyCrowesops

LondonEarlyOpera/ BridgetCunninghamhpd

SignumMbSIGCD579(128’• DDD)

Includestextsandtranslations

This is not the first

time Francesca

Cuzzoni and Faustina

Bordoni, the star

sopranos Handel engaged for his London

operas in the 1720s, have ridden again:

Emma Kirkby and Catherine Bott

summoned them over 20 years ago

(Hyperion, 11/97), invoking the title

‘The Rival Queens’ as a reminder that

the 18th-century London press egged

the public into believing in unseemly

competition between the two. Bridget

Cunningham plays down the rivalry bit,

and the Handel connection too, drawing

on arias by some of the other composers

who wrote for these singers over a period

of nearly 20 years. She has researched

well – as her generously informative

booklet notes reveal – and the result is no

fewer than 15 premiere recordings. Even

among the chosen Handel arias, only

‘Da tempeste’ from Giulio Cesare could

be called well known.

A worthy project, then, and indeed

it is fascinating to have a less Handel-

centric view than usual. For of course

Bordoni and Cuzzoni had careers on

the continent either side of their time

in London, and thus we are able to drop

in on the north Italian scene in music by

Pollarolo, Porpora, Orlandini, Vivaldi,

Leo and Vinci, as well as Munich and

Dresden in the company of Torri and

Hasse (who happened to be Bordoni’s

husband). Some of these figures were

representatives of the new Neapolitan

style, edging towards the pre-Classical

and emphasising a certain kind of

vocal virtuosity, and it is interesting to

hear Handel – perhaps inspired by his

singers – moving a little bit that way in

the trilling and tripleting of ‘Alla sua

gabbia d’oro’.

More importantly, this soundly

made programme is both pleasing

and intriguing: Vivaldi’s ‘Nelle mie

selve natie’ leaves the voice bravely

unaccompanied between ritornellos;

Leo’s ‘Quel nome se ascolto’ makes

muscular use of syncopation and

chromatic slides; and Bononcini’s

‘Deh! lascia o core’ is truly touching.

We can’t ever know what these two great

singers actually sounded like, of course,

but Lucy Crowe plays Cuzzoni as a bright

soprano whose technical precision and

agile upward-leaping ornaments combine

with musicality to impress and move,

while Mary Bevan offers a Bordoni with

a lower centre of gravity, generally darker

and more directly theatrical; if she is less

comfortable than Crowe in passagework,

she matches her for dramatic presence

in a number such as Handel’s ‘Gelosia,

spietata Aletto’. The orchestra, it must

be said, do not always conform; though

perfectly stylish, they can nevertheless

be wiry and in need of a shot more

electricity. For lovers of Baroque singing

though, this recital should be a welcome

guest. Lindsay Kemp

Adam Plachetka as Papageno and Christiane Karg as Pamina star in an eccentric production of Die Zauberlöte from last year’s Salzburg Festival

PHOTOGRAPHY:

RUTH WALZ