Handel - Amadigi di Gaula / Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski [Import]

George Frideric Handel (Composer), Marc Minkowski (Conductor), Les Musiciens du Louvre (Orchestra), Natalie Stutzmann (Performer), Jennifer Smith (Performer), Bernarda Fink (Performer), Pascal Bertin (Performer), Eiddwen Harrhy (Performer), Pascal Monteilhet / Fabio Biondi (Performer), Aline Zylberajch / Bruno Cocset (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Natalie Stutzmann, Jennifer Smith, Bernarda Fink, Pascal Bertin, Eiddwen Harrhy, et al.
• Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre
• Conductor: Marc Minkowski
• Composer: George Frideric Handel
• Audio CD (May 27, 1991)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Erato (Elektra / Wea)
• ASIN: B000009IT3
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,183 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Ouverture

2. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 1. Scene 1. Recitativo. Or che di negro ammanto

3. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 1. Scene 1. Aria. Pugnero contro del fato

4. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 1. Scene 2. Accompagnato. Oh notte! oh cara notte

5. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 1. Scene 2. Aria. Notte amica dei riposi

6. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 1. Scene 2. Recitativo. Che miro / Scene 3. Recitativo. E tu cerchi fuggir?

7. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 1. Scene 3. Aria. Non sa temere questo mio petto

8. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 1. Scene 4. Recitativo. Il crudel m'abbandona

9. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 1. Scene 4. Aria. Ah! spietato! e non ti muove

10. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 1. Scene 5. Recitativo. Risveglian queste fiamme

See all 28 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 3. Recitativo. Ma, qual scampo al mio affanno?

2. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 3. Aria. T'amai, quant'il mio cor

3. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 3. Recitativo. Chi mai creduto havria

4. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 3. Aria. Ti pentirai, crudel!

5. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 4. Recitativo. Dunque colei, da cui speravo

6. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 4. Duetto. Crudel, tu non farai

7. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 5. Recitativo. D'un sventurato amante

8. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 5. Aria. Pena tiranna io sento al core

9. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 6. Recitativo. Arresta, oh Prence!

10. Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11: Act 2. Scene 6. Aria. Se tu brami di godere

See all 31 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Handel Gem in a Superbly Cast Version, January 9, 2007

By 

Nicholas A. Deutsch (Tarrytown, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Handel - Amadigi di Gaula / Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski (Audio CD)

Amadigi di Gaula (1715) was the fifth Italian opera that Handel wrote for London, and the last before he took up his duties for the newly formed Royal Academy (in 1720, with Radamisto). Like Rinaldo and Teseo, which preceded it, Amadigi is a "magic opera", a genre that always brought out the best in the composer; like them too it features a love-sick sorceress as a central figure, a character-type he was to return to with equally memorable results in Alcina (1735). (His remaining "magic opera" Orlando has a benevolent male sorceror in place of a malevolent female one.)

Amadigi is an absolutely wonderful piece, with a memorable score of great freshness, invention and youthful vitality. There are two duets, an onstage death scene (very rare) and a ghost scene, all outstanding. The characters are all well-drawn, and at 2 1/2 hours it's one of Handel's most concise stage works. Without wishing to denigrate such Royal Academy masterpieces as Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Rodelinda and Tamerlano, there's no denying that some of the non-Academy operas Handel wrote (both before and after) have a special charm, exploring supernatural (and sometimes comic) terrain implicitly off limits in the predominately heroic Academy pieces.

This 1989 recording, the only one so far, is excellent. I believe it was conductor Marc Minkowski's first complete Handel opera on CD, and it shows him at his best, leading his fine band with great verve, and getting vivid delivery of the recitatives. And there's no tampering with the musical text, unlike some of Minkowski's later efforts (Teseo, Hercules). The four principals are are first-rate: two experienced sopranos (Jennifer Smith and Eiddwen Harrhy) and two (then) young contraltos (Nathalie Stutzmann and Bernarda Fink). This is one of the most enjoyable recordings of a Handel opera I've ever heard.