Customer Reviews

Handel: Complete Cantata, Volume 2

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This disc is the second in one of two ongoing projects that aim to record many or all of Handel's cantatas. The other is a full-price series on Glossa with La Risonanza. This series on Brilliant Classics is fully competitive--and considerably less expensive.

Brilliant is a Dutch-based company that has re-released many earlier recordings in big budget boxes (for example, the complete Haydn symphonies and the complete Mozart). Now it is making its own recordings, and the results in this case are delightful.

This is the fourth release by Contrasto Armonico, an early music orchestra with roots at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Previous recordings include Handel's "Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo," "La Resurrezione," and the first volume of cantatas Complete Cantatas 1. All feature Canadian soprano Stephanie True, a graduate of the Royal Conservatory. The Amazon reviews of these other recordings have been very favorable.

This disc includes two solo cantatas with instrumental accompaniment ("Un'alma inamorata" and "Tra le fiamme") and three with continuo alone ("O lucenti, o sereni occhi," "Del bell'idolo mio," and "Aure soavi e liete"). The first two are available in several other recordings, but the performances by True and her colleagues are every bit the equal of those by bigger names (such as Kirkby's "Tra la fiamma"). The latter three cantatas are currently available only here, and we owe True, Contrasto Armonico, and Brilliant a great debt of gratitude for bringing these Handel gems to CD.

Although this CD is sold at a modest price, it is not a cheap production. The jewel case includes a 20-page brochure with full Italian-English texts and detailed notes by MIT Handel scholar Ellen Harris.

Addendum (October 10, 2011: Volume 3 in this series, featuring Aminta e Fillide, is now available: Handel: Complete Cantatas, Vol. 3.