Handel: Arminio

A must for baroque opera lovers. Cencic is astonishing and I can't wait for his next Handel offering so he can breath more fire into these almost forgotten masterpieces.

Great

its Handel

The most surprising voice on this set is Vince Yi. First hearing is disconcerting. What voice-type is this? He's singing music Handel wrote for the soprano-castrato Conti, top a's included, without apparent effort: surely he's too high and straight for a falsettist? It’s not a particularly pleasant noise – he sounds like an angry schoolboy – but we do wonder for a moment if the Koreans have decided to castrate a few of their weaker singers for the sake of dominating baroque opera performance. But then when Yi gets into Handel's heavier writing he labours (like everyone else here) and reveals that he is after all some sort of counter-tenor. He's not the first male soprano – anyone remember Randall K. Wong? – but he won't last long if he pushes his voice as he does here.Yi is the "second man" – five arias, to Max Emmanuel Cencic's six. Cencic sings the music for Annibali, an alto-castrato, not much lower in range than Conti, but he sounds quite different to Yi, darker in colour and more laborious in coloratura. I fear that even Cencic's fans must by now feel his best days are over. It's only in slower arias of pathos that he makes his mark, as at the end of Act II when both hero and heroine sing their despair. Cencic's singing of "Vado a morir" – a prequel to "He was despised" – is quite moving; but I can't say the same of Layla Claire's "Rendimi il dolce sposo". Claire has neither the experience nor the technique to be singing Handel's music for his "first lady" Anna Strada. Ruxandra Donose has more experience, but hardly sounds better. Francesca Bertolli (the original "second lady") was a real contralto – Donose, a mezzo, struggles with the part and tends to sound rather like Xavier Sabata (who does not have much to do). Perhaps she thinks that's what Handel singing should be. The tenor Juan Sancho has the only other significant role. He's quite good, at least by comparison with the rest.This "Arminio" is George Petrou's first Handel set since his "Alessandro" in 2011. That recording I regard as one of the best of a Handel opera, mostly because of its strong casting, but it did owe something to Petrou's common sense and relative restraint. Since then he has gone over to the dark side, no doubt as a result of too much touring with celebrity fake castrati. Here Petrou and his band give us standard current Handel performance – express tempi, ferocious accentuation, surging, lurching, squeezing, swelling, and the inevitable amplified theorbo. Very few noises either instruments or voices make can be said to give pleasure. "Bel canto" this is not and it's made worse by a "pop" recording – too wide a stereo image, too close miking, and too much obvious post-production interference.There is another recording of "Arminio" made by the late Alan Curtis in 2000. It's one of Curtis' weaker efforts, hardly better than Petrou's here. Neither version allows us to judge Handel's work. "Arminio" was not one of his hits, but it does have some interesting innovations: he cut down on da capo repetitions and he put in three duets, including one at the start. Yet much of the vocal writing is rather angular and the voice-ranges of his cast are difficult for modern ears – we find it hard to accept heroines with lower voices than their heroes. The jury is still out on Handel's "Arminio", I feel: but not on this recording.

This is a dazzling, sparkling and dynamic account of Handel's Arminio. It fizzes with energy. I was lucky enough to see Armonia Atenea, Petrou, Cencic et al perform 'Alessandro' at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. They gave an enthralling performance of virtuosity and this is effortlessly extended to this recording. The singing is astonishing in places with jaw dropping virtuosity from Cencic, 'Si, cadro, ma sorgera', and 'Fatto scorta al sentier della gloria' and show stopping pathos in 'Vado a morir' . Dazzling virtuosity too from Sabata too in 'Non deve roman petto dar all'amor ricetto'. Vince Yi has a laser sharp tone in 'Quella fiamma' where he nimbly duels with an oboe and is the victor. Long may Korea produce countertenors if they of this standard. The other singers are also excellent and are accomplished Handelian singers. Of equal status is one of the best period bands in the world who are rhythmically exciting and dynamic. They have a muscular, passionate sound that drives the action forward but they are also wonderfully sensitive in the slower arias. This interpretation supplants the graceful Curtis version. Both sets reveal the genius of Handel but Petrou reveals a little more. Wonderful!

I bought this despite reading some very negative comments about the conducting and the singers. I am pleased I did, to my untrained ear this was nothing but pleasure Max Cencic in fine voice and George Petrous conducting was exhilarating after some of the funereal conducting of some other conductors I have in my collection. Petros Magoulas has a fine bass/baritone voice?, a real delight. Vince Yi's voice has an unnerving sound at times, slightly reminiscent of the recordings of Allesandro Moreschi, nonetheless he can certainly find the high notes without much effort. All in all it is worth adding this to a collection even with the odd one or two annoyances.

gut

L. Cummings poursuit en Live sa série des opéras de Haendel, avec une distribution très homogène, sans "vedette" et sans défaut. Les gravures précédentes de cet " ARMINIO " paraissaient un peu figées et fades. Ici la scène redonne vie à cet ouvrage méconnu, plein d'airs développés comme on les aime. Une belle parution.