Even fans of English soprano Emma Kirkby may be surprised to find her tackling the muscular Italian-language music of the young Handel, which is mostly the province of big operatic voices. This recording offers four of the hundred or more Italian cantatas Handel wrote -- almost mini-operas with a single character who pours out her heart about, more often than not, love gone bad in a series of recitatives, accompanied recitatives, and arias. There is a Concerto a quattro in D major as an intermezzo, with polyphonic textures ...
Read More
Even fans of English soprano Emma Kirkby may be surprised to find her tackling the muscular Italian-language music of the young Handel, which is mostly the province of big operatic voices. This recording offers four of the hundred or more Italian cantatas Handel wrote -- almost mini-operas with a single character who pours out her heart about, more often than not, love gone bad in a series of recitatives, accompanied recitatives, and arias. There is a Concerto a quattro in D major as an intermezzo, with polyphonic textures that offer a nice contrast to all the chordal accompaniments. Only the final cantata, Agrippina condotta a morire, HWV 110 (Agrippina Led to Her Death), has been much sung, and in the fiery, expansive parts of this work (try "Orrida, oscura," track 16), depicting the growing realization of Agrippina the Younger that her son, Nero, is going to do her in (bear in mind while listening that she herself may well have poisoned Claudius), listeners may wish for more power. The more intimate...
Read Less
