Search - Lorenzo Regazzo, Concerto Italiano, Gemma Bertagnolli :: Handel: Arie per basso

Ravishing!!!

Lala R. | CA, USA | 07/20/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I highly recommend this magical recording to any lover of opera and singing. This varied selection has some of the most interesting Handel arias for the low voice breathtakingly performed by the bass Lorenzo Regazzo and very competently directed by Rinaldo Alessandrini.

Regazzo's brilliant cascades of coloratura, his dark sumptuous tone, aristocratic style and contagious enjoyment of this music make listening to this album a sensuous pleasure. But what sets the singer apart from others in this repertoire is that he doesn't "sing" the characters, he lives and breathes them, from humorous languor of Claudio's love serenades to the deepest tragedy of "Gelido in ogni vena". He is a superb interpreter, his rich mercurial tone constantly changing in response to the slightest hint from music and text, filling each sound with its own meaning, colour and emotion. This way every note is used to paint vivid portraits of the characters' inner world, and even the world around them, be it the storm from "Orlando" or the sunny skies of "Apollo and Dafne".

With this album Regazzo sets the gold standard in interpretation and technique for a baroque bass: this is the most beautiful, virtuosic, and expressive performance of this repertoire of all that I have heard before.





1. Siroe: Ouverture

2. Recitativo Cosroe "No, io per sua pena" I

3. Aria Cosroe "Se il mio paterno amore" I

4. Recitativo Cosroe "Ove son? Che m'avvenne?" III

5. Aria Cosroe "Gelido in ogni vena" III

6. Orlando: Accompagnato Zoroastro "Impari ognun da Orlando" III

7. Aria Zoroastro "Sorge infausta una procella" III

8. Agrippina: Aria Claudio "Pur ritorno a rimirarvi" I

9. Recitativo Claudio, Poppea* "Ma, o ciel, mesta e confusa"

10. Arietta Claudio "Vieni, o cara" I

11. Serse: Recitativo Elviro "Me infelice..." II

12. Arietta Elviro "Del mio caro Bacco amabile" II

13. Alcina: Ouverture - Musette - Menuet

14. Aria Melisso "Pensa a chi geme" II

15. Tamerlano: Aria Leone "Amor da guerra e pace" II

16. Cantata "dalla guerra amorosa" - Recitativo "Dalla guerra amorosa"

17. Aria "Non v'alletti un occhio nero"

18. Recitativo "Fuggite, si fuggite!"

19. Aria "La bellezza è com'un fiore"

20. Finale "Fuggite... a chi servo d'amor"

21. Cantata "apollo e dafne" - Recitativo "Placati alfin, o cara"

22. Aria Apollo "Come rosa in su la spina""