
CD
Handel: Arminio | ||
| 1. | Arminio, opera, HWV 36 3:26:33 | |
| Composed by George Frideric Handel | ||
| Conducted by Alan Curtis | ||
| Performed by Dominique Labelle, Luigi Petroni, Riccardo Ristori, Manuela Custer, Vivica Genaux, Geraldine McGreevy, Il Complesso Barocco and Sytse Buwalda | ||
Don't belive the nonsense that has been written about Arminio -- that it is an inferior work, composed in haste, bereft of ideas, dramatically weak and so on. On the evidence of this very fine recording it can stand among the best of the Handel operas, full of beautiful and imaginative things... The performance is excellently directed by Alan Curtis, who paces the opera well, keeping the recitaive moving and chracterising the arias strongly and clearly... Dominique Labelle, who sings the high castrato part, is of star quality, delicate, precise, rhythmic, powerful where she needs to be. Stanley Sadie, Gramophone