Originally recorded in 2004, this album is a real standout among the various releases by sopranos who have essayed Handel's extremely athletic opera seria arias, perhaps the black belt of vocal artistry in their own time. France's Sandrine Piau, attractively portrayed in the original artwork that is reproduced in the actual CD booklet included beneath the series cover, doesn't initially look the part of a Handelian soprano. And indeed, there's more sheer muscle in other top-level recordings of these pieces and others like ...
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Originally recorded in 2004, this album is a real standout among the various releases by sopranos who have essayed Handel's extremely athletic opera seria arias, perhaps the black belt of vocal artistry in their own time. France's Sandrine Piau, attractively portrayed in the original artwork that is reproduced in the actual CD booklet included beneath the series cover, doesn't initially look the part of a Handelian soprano. And indeed, there's more sheer muscle in other top-level recordings of these pieces and others like them, such as Renée Fleming's. But there's nothing like the sparkling beauty and laserlike precision of Piau's high notes, or the agility with which she takes Handel's rapid runs, careening around the corners with ornamentation that you would call daring if it did not make such perfect musical sense. Another advantage accruing to Piau in the opera seria sweepstakes is the presence of a historical-instrument group Les Talens Lyriques under leader Christophe Rousset, that does more than...
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