Customer Reviews

Handel: Partenope

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Scattered throughout Handel's long & productive career in Italian opera are several works which challenge the notion of opera seria as invariably heroic & ultra-serious - works like the early 'Agrippina'(1709) & the late 'Serse'(1739).
Like them, 'Partenope'(1730) has a distinct flavor of ironic comedy, which allows Handel to compose a fine score that moves sure-footedly between serious passion & a lighter (though never farcical) view of the foibles of human beings in love. In this, he's helped greatly by the libretto (after Silvio Stampiglia), one of the best he ever set. Altogether, 'Partenope' is a delightful work that deserves to be far better known.
This 1979 Harmonia Mundi set was the 1st complete commercial recording of 'Partenope', and despite a strongly cast recent version on Chandos it remains my personal favorite. To my taste, Sigiswald Kuijken and La Petite Bande give the score a delightful rhythmic spring, and the individual bittersweet, semicomic flavor of 'Partenope' comes across more strongly than on the new set. Some listeners may prefer the richer sound of the singers on the Chandos set, but there are no weak links here and both women in the cast are outstanding: soprano Kristina Laki is a charming Partenope & alto Helga Mueller-Molinari a high-spirited Rosmira who enlivens every scene she's in with crisp, forward diction -- I definitely prefer her to Hilary Summers on Chandos (a fine voice but perhaps miscast). Admittedly, not everyone will warm to counter-tenor Rene Jacobs's voice or style (a bit swoopy-swoony in places) in the role of Arsace; Lawrence Zazzo on Chandos is preferable. Also, there's a minimum of vocal decoration in the da capo arias, though personally I find this comes as welcome relief after so much overelaborate decoration on more recent recordings.
Despite its age, for me this remains one of the most enjoyable of all Handel opera recordings. Recommended.
(Note on translations: this set provides separate Italian, German, English and French texts; the Italian & English are photocopied from the original libretto. Chandos gives double columns of Italian and English (still the old translation, but reset in modern type), a far more convenient format.)

This is not a satisfactory recording by modern Handel performance standards. The conducting is very good, and the sound is well balanced and full, but the voices are that kind of totally anemic, boring voice that they used to use for Handel in the 'early music' movement recordings. Very bland, ranging from just bad (René Jacobs) to precise but boring (Laki). No imagination in their enunciation, very little drama. The singling of Jacobs is especially unbearable (countertenor singing has come a LONG way since then...) and Arsace (Jacobs' role) has most of the best arias in the opera. This makes the whole recording little more than a filtered view, sideways glance at the work itself. Enough to make you realize how great it is, but still unsatisfying. I have heard parts of the newer recording on Chandos, and I am going to try that one.

Honestly, when you listen to Jacobs, you just wonder what they were thinking!!!