Customer Reviews

Handel - Alcina / Fleming, Graham, Dessay, Kuhlmann, Robinson, Naouri, Lascarro, Les Arts Florissants, Christie

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After giving us choice recordings of Handel' s Messiah, Orlando and Acis and Galatea, William Christie now turns his attention to Alcina, one of Handel's very best operas. For this great occasion he got some of the most famous divas of our time and it pays off handsomely. It really doesn't matter if Renee Fleming sounds more like a Strauss soprano, her ravishing voice is equally seductive in Handel, and she does give a great performance in the title role. Susan Graham is almost as good, even if she can't compare (no one can) with the young Teresa Berganza in the old Bonynge recording. Natalie Dessay sparks fireworks in her sensational coloratura aria "Tornami a vagheggiar" at the end of Act I. It seems she got the biggest applause of the evening. But it is the exquisite playing of Les Arts Florissants which deserves the highest praise. This is certainly one of the greatest opera recordings of the year.

This recording was always going to be a bestseller - the unfeasibly starry casting would see to that - and it really lives up to its billing. Alcina has wonderful arias in spades but it takes real musical imagination to bring them to life as William Christie and his soloists do here. Yes, he pushes the ritenuti to the limit, and yes, the ornamentation occasionaly lapses beyond the strictly tasteful. But how well the performance captures the themes of the opera: the brittle decadence of Alcina's court - and the misery and loneliness at the centre of it all. The frisson of a live performance adds to the excitement - and I am sure the applause went on for much longer than it did here. The orchestral sound is agreeably robust but bright and accurate. There are some smashing obbligati. The cast is, rightly, dominated by the eponymous sorceress. Renee Fleming thwarts all those who question her ability as a Handel singer (and there are enough of them) by bringing her rich, bright soprano, her flawless dynamic control, her deeply satisfying musicality and an edge of bravura to her music. Bravura is not the word for Natalie Dessay's dazzling Morgana, agreeably plush of tone, really thoughfully characterised and - of course - breathtakingly saucy in altissimo. Susan Graham sings gloriously too (with some occasional tuning problems) but perhaps her Ruggiero could go further in terms of character - Alcina is not the only one soul-searching in this piece. As for the rest, only praise, especially for Kathleen Kuhlmann's artless execution of her florid music and Juanita Lascarro's characterful Oberto. So - well worth having - unless you are the kind of handel lover who can't bear non-authentic Handelian singers. It's an intoxicating record of some memorable music theatre and a real treat.

The operas of Handel are surely an acquired taste, the opera seria format seeming stiff and contrived to modern listeners. But if you develop an apetite for them, you may just find yourself becoming addicted. This new recording of "Alcina" could be just the ticket to start newcomers on the road toward falling in love with Handelian opera.

This is not the first complete recording of "Alcina." Two others, with Joan Sutherland and Arleen Auger in the title role, exist but are currently unavailable in the United States. However, this recording excels in making the characters human, the situations moving and valid, and the emotions palpable.

The first glory of the set is undoubtedly the singing of Renee Fleming in the title role. Her voice improves on her recorded predecessors by not only being exceptionally beautiful but irresistably sensuous as well. Her singing of Handel is a revelation, when her first aria is launched with a voice of fullness, warmth and creamy tone. This is no standard "period" soprano a la Emma Kirkby, but a real woman: Fleming believes in this character and her emotions, and makes her sympathetic to us. Her complete dramatic involvement make Alcina a living, breathing being, rather than a posturing cardboard nightingale.

Susan Graham is equally effective as Ruggiero, her voice as warm and beautiful as Fleming's. She may lack the full dramatic commitment to the character that Fleming has, but then Ruggiero is not as developed as Alcina. She does, however, contribute an exquisitely shaded and nuanced version of "Verdi prati."

Natalie Dessay's frequent excursions into the altissimo range may bother some purists (she caps "Tornami a vagheggiar" with a high F), but for my money her embellishments are right on for the flighty character of Morgana. Her voice remains sweet, clear, and slightly reedy, contrasting well with the other sopranos in the cast.

The rest of the cast is good, if without the degree of commitment and polish exhibited by the three leading ladies. Kathleen Kuhlmann repeats her Bradamante from the Auger set, sounding firm if rather unyielding in tone and with aspirated coloratura. Juanita Lascarro is light and pure as the child Oberto, although it would have been nice to have a boy soprano sing the part, as it was done in Handel's time. The men are also good, if unexceptionable. The chorus sings well but is difficult to understand.

William Christie shapes the performance beautifully; this may be his best work to date. Les Arts Florissants plays with energy and crisp ensemble, embellishing the da capos right along with the singers.

For those wary of live recordings, fear not. A few odd sonic balances aside, the sound is excellent, arias better than the recitatives. Applause comes at the end of each act, so the flow remains uniterrupted within the piece.

I wouldn't want to be without the two earlier recordings of "Alcina," but for an experience that makes the work vital and exciting, as well as a near-perfect reading of the title role by Renee Fleming, give this set a try.

First, in response to the reviewer below, this production _was_ done in the States: I saw it at the otherwise staid Lyric Opera of Chicago. I think it was done elsewhere, too.
Also, accepting that emotional response varies with every listener, I don't quite see how someone couldn't be incredibly moved by moments in this performance. First and foremost would be Fleming's 12-minute aria in act II, which has to be one of the most sublime da capo aria performances on record. Christie's tempi here are perfect to boot, and the orchestral sound that wonderful mix of suavity and clarity which Les Arts Florissants virtually owns in the early music business.

Ths recording derives from a highly acclaimed production at the Paris Opera in 1999 (later traveling, with some cast changes, to Chicago). It is one of the most exciting recordings of a Handel opera I have ever heard--I can't stop playing it! Christie provides his trademark crisp, elegantly sculpted orchestral lines and carefully modulated tempi. His direction emphasizes the music's sensuality in a way atypical of recent baroque opera recordings, but it strikes me as completely appropriate. Dessay sings with stunning coloratura skill, reaching the stratosphere in fast passages with ease. "Tornami a vagheggiar" brings down the house, but elsewhere ("Credete al mio dolore") I could have used a smoother, better supported sound. Graham emphasizes the Hamlet-like aspects of Ruggiero's character, making him more introspective and more of a poet than did Jennifer Larmore in Chicago. It's a interesting characterization and she sings with that aristocratic, cool, slender tone that have made her famous. About Fleming I cannot muster up enough praise. On purely vocal terms her singing is outstanding: she uses a distinctively rich palette of colors, has perfect projection and support, her high notes are glorious and her coloratura superb right up to a high E-flat. But what I find so impressive is how she uses these talents to create a complex, moving psychological portrait of a woman obsessed with desire. It's breathtaking--her Alcina will move you to tears. Many have claimed that Fleming was born to sing Strauss, but I wonder if she were not destined instead for Handel. Not to be missed!

Alcina is not only one of Handel's greatest operas, it is an important masterpiece in its own right. Since Richard Bonynge recorded it for the first time in 1961 with Sutherland and Berganza, it has become one of the most often performed baroque operas in our time (just last year Rinaldo Alessandrini performed it in Germany with Luba Orgonasova and Vesselina Kasarova as Alcina and Ruggiero). Not a minute too soon the great William Christie has recorded it with a 24 karat cast. In the title role Renee Fleming shines like the best soprano of our time, I'm sure in a few decades this recording will be cited as one of her finest, the voice in perfect condition, the artist totally involved. Susan Graham as Ruggiero tries very hard too match her, the problem is that her voice is not individual enough, at times it's even difficult to tell who is singing, but at her best, she is very pleasing. Natalie Dessay gives body and charisma to all those high notes, not even Sutherland would dare to steal "Tornami a vagheggiar" from her. The orchestra is stunning, and William Christie makes sure that excitement and style go hand in hand. Very desirable recording indeed.

Four magnificent singers are put on starry-eyed display in this energetic recording of a live performance of the 1999 Paris Opéra production of Handel's "Alcina". Each delivers their individual stamp in some of Handel's most powerful and beautiful arias. The irony is that the basis upon which these emotions pour forth in such majestic torrents is actually a fanciful tale about a sorceress, Alcina, who lures men to her island only to turn them into animals when they fall in love with her. Needless to say, things get complicated when Alcina truly does fall in love with Ruggiero, who already has a fiancée, Bradamante, who disguises herself as his brother but not before Alcina's sister, Morgana, also falls in love with Ruggiero. Even though it sounds like a convoluted Shakespearean comedy, Handel took this plot quite seriously and filled his work with sonorous set pieces that tear down the characters' vulnerability in often ravishing fashion.

In her first foray into Handel, superstar soprano Renée Fleming cuts a very passionate, sometimes imperious figure in the title role. Her high point is Alcina's intense Act II aria, "Ah! Mio cor", where upon being abandoned by Ruggiero, she lets out an aria of heartbreaking poignancy but then gives way to her regal bearing and plots her regal act of vengeance. Having just seen Fleming in the Stephen Wadsworth production of Handel's "Rodelinda" at the Metropolitan Opera last week, I was impressed at how she harnessed her famous trilling to fit the contours of her put-upon character. With Alcina, Fleming embodies a character more to her passionate singing style, her coloratura resplendent without undue ornamentation. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham does a "pants" role as Ruggiero and plays the lover with conviction. She sings her Act III aria, "Sta nell'Ircana", with a romantic openness befitting the bewildered character. Soprano Natalie Dessay handles the soubrettish role of Morgana with fiery virtuosity, certainly on full display in her Act I aria, "Tornami a vagheggiar". Contralto Kathleen Kuhlmann carries the vocal heft and executes the diction required to be persuasive as the disguised fiancée, a smaller role but given a nice showcase with the Act I aria, "È gelosia". The inevitable capper is the climactic trio performance of Fleming, Graham and Kuhlmann on "Non è amor, nè gelosia", as powerful a melding of supreme voices as you are likely to hear on an opera recording. Much of the credit is due to the estimable William Christie conducting the expert playing of Les Arts Florissants. This is a splendid recording with a minimum of stage and background noise. Strongly recommended.

Alcina crea para el mundo una situación de gran belleza vocal y en las manos de Christie el virtusismo se eleva a Arias extraordinarias como "Tornami a Vagheggiar" con una Renee Flemming cantando divinamente. (de hecho los aplausos finales de esta grabación son pocos para la calidad de esta aria) Creo que es una versión impecable que no puede dejarse pasar

I may not be as musically sophisticated as some of the other reviewers, but I do share the belief that that is a wonderful performance. My reasons are as follows: Alcina does not offer the performers the opportunity to dazzle listeners with incredible feats of soaring vocal display (such as one might find with "Mi chiamano Mimi" in La Boheme). Accordingly, the results rest much more on the performers' ability to achieve a sustained level of perfection over the entire performance. In this I believe they succeed marvelously. In particular, Ms. Fleming's voice control and purity of notes are just amazing. Further, in this opera the orchestration is nearly as prevalent as the singing, and William Christie controls things perfectly. The orchestra never interferes with the singing, but when it's the orchestra's turn to solo, Mr. Chrsitie turns up the volume by just the right amount. Finally, in my person opinion, this is one of Handel's better pieces. I have at least 12 different Handel oratorios and operas, and this is my second favorite (after Solti's "Messiah" with Dame Kiri). It moves along much better than, say, "Israel in Egypt". Granted, this is comparing an opera to an oratorio, but I think you get the point. Thank you for reading this "poor commoner's" review.

This is a recording of a live performance. It is wonderful music exquisitly performed. All the singing is beautiful, and everyone in the world knows Renee Flemming is a treasure. This isn't to minimize how beautiful her performance is, but, well, it is beautiful and she is Renee Flemming. Her voice is a miracle and her performance is a joy to hear.

However, the name I hadn't known before is Natalie Dessay. This is an amazing singer and performer. I listen to her first aria in this piece over and over again. Is this performance possible? If this were a movie you would swear it was special effects, and yet it is a recording of a live performance. She is a great talent.

Shortly after I purchased this recording I read an article on her in the Financial Times about her drive to sing great roles with serious acting. Not just another coloratura part. Well, I don't know her attitude towards this role in Alcina, but for me this is a revelation about opera and what virtuousity can do in the service of art. This is far from empty.

You will enjoy this if you take the time to listen and take it all in.

Besides, the story is a lot of fun with the magic spells, confusions, and helpless protestations of eternal love to people who are really not what they seem.