Rodrigo: Atto Terzo - Scena 8 - Duetto: Prendi l'alma e prendi il core (Rodrigo, Esilena)
Rodrigo: Atto Terzo - Scena 9 - Recitativo: Con un solo tuo sguardo (Florinda)
Rodrigo: Atto Terzo - Scena 9 - Aria: Begli occhi del mio ben (Florinda)
Rodrigo: Atto Terzo - Scena 9 - Recitativo: Mi son pur cari, o bella (Evanco)
Rodrigo: Atto Terzo - Scena 9 - Aria: Io son vostro, luci belle (Evanco)
Rodrigo: Atto Terzo - Scena ultima - Recitativo: Evanco, d'Aragona (Rodrigo, Esilena)
Rodrigo: Atto Terzo - Scena ultima - Coro: L'amorosa dea di Cnido (Esilena, Florinda, Evanco, Rodrigo, Giuliano)
Rodrigo wasn't Handel's very first opera (that was Almira), but it was the first one he wrote after arriving in Italy--and the first one that seems fully mature, with no hint of juvenilia. (He was all of 22 when he wrote ... more »it). Already the composer had begun his habit of recycling music from earlier works; dedicated Handel fans will recognize plenty of material from (among others) Aminta e Fillide, Tirsi, Clori e Fileno, and the Carmelite Vespers music. Rodrigo's plot has all the martial and amorous conflict, revenge, and forgiveness of any self-respecting opera seria, but the narrative is less convoluted than most; more important, it's full of powerful and credible human emotion--emotion that Handel illustrates with consistently fine music. (There's none of the first-act doldrums that afflict some of Handel's other operas and oratorios.) Alan Curtis has assembled an unusually good cast: Caterina Calvi is an excellent--and all too rare--Handel contralto, with admirable flexibility, firm low notes and no matronly quality to the voice; tenor Rufus Müller makes a convincingly courageous and egotistical rebel nobleman, yet retains some of the sweet tone that made him a stand-out member of the Tallis Scholars in earlier years. The three sopranos--Elena Cecchi Fedi as the furious victim of seduction, Sandrine Piau as the virtuous queen, and Roberta Invernizzi as a rebellious young noble--are all exemplary. Then there's magnificent mezzo Gloria Banditelli: her singing is focused and flexible enough to fit right in with period instruments, with a sound both pure and heroic enough to be credible in a heroic castrato role. Curtis has cut a good bit of recitative (included, shown in italics, in the booklet), but then Handel often did the same thing. Moreover, he paces the performance well--sometimes one misses the spark that, say, Marc Minkowski and Paul McCreesh ignite throughout their best Handel performances, but the energy and theatrical involvement never flag. --Matthew Westphal« less
Rodrigo wasn't Handel's very first opera (that was Almira), but it was the first one he wrote after arriving in Italy--and the first one that seems fully mature, with no hint of juvenilia. (He was all of 22 when he wrote it). Already the composer had begun his habit of recycling music from earlier works; dedicated Handel fans will recognize plenty of material from (among others) Aminta e Fillide, Tirsi, Clori e Fileno, and the Carmelite Vespers music. Rodrigo's plot has all the martial and amorous conflict, revenge, and forgiveness of any self-respecting opera seria, but the narrative is less convoluted than most; more important, it's full of powerful and credible human emotion--emotion that Handel illustrates with consistently fine music. (There's none of the first-act doldrums that afflict some of Handel's other operas and oratorios.) Alan Curtis has assembled an unusually good cast: Caterina Calvi is an excellent--and all too rare--Handel contralto, with admirable flexibility, firm low notes and no matronly quality to the voice; tenor Rufus Müller makes a convincingly courageous and egotistical rebel nobleman, yet retains some of the sweet tone that made him a stand-out member of the Tallis Scholars in earlier years. The three sopranos--Elena Cecchi Fedi as the furious victim of seduction, Sandrine Piau as the virtuous queen, and Roberta Invernizzi as a rebellious young noble--are all exemplary. Then there's magnificent mezzo Gloria Banditelli: her singing is focused and flexible enough to fit right in with period instruments, with a sound both pure and heroic enough to be credible in a heroic castrato role. Curtis has cut a good bit of recitative (included, shown in italics, in the booklet), but then Handel often did the same thing. Moreover, he paces the performance well--sometimes one misses the spark that, say, Marc Minkowski and Paul McCreesh ignite throughout their best Handel performances, but the energy and theatrical involvement never flag. --Matthew Westphal
CD Reviews
The most for your money with Handel's "Rodrigo"
Andrew Baumann | Chicago, IL | 06/22/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The best thing about this new recording of one of Handel's early operas is that great pains were clearly taken to fit the whole opera onto two well-filled CDs (each full-price, but containing nearly 80 minutues of music). To do this, Alan Curtis (the conductor) cut some of the lengthy recitative -- which is nevertheless provided in the libretto, indicated by italic type, and will therefore satisfy even Handel "completists" who can still save the cost of an extra CD. In the program notes, Curtis makes an excellent case for his reconstruction of the opera, which until recently was lacking its beginning, part of its middle, and its end. These have been restored partly by means of a recently discovered manuscript, and partly by Curtis himself, who composed the first couple of recitatives in the Baroque style (though, admittedly, not necessarily in the style of Handel) and borrowed a duet from another opera to replace a duet that was, to judge from the score, evidently missing. But Curtis argues convincingly enough that this duet was originally part of "Rodrigo" (primarily on the basis of the duet's key and the fact that the two operas are roughly contemporary).The only thing that might dissuade one from absolutely loving this recording is that Handel reused much of the music in other of his compositions. Since Handel lovers relish every new aria they hear, it may be sometimes disappointing that some of the melodies already sound familiar from other operas or concerti grossi. But rarely, if ever, did Handel plagiarize his own music exactly; each borrowed melody was reworked to some extent, so the music is still fresh and new.As for the quality of the recording itself, it is first rate and vies with other period-instrument performances. The instrumentation is spare and intimate, the recording clear and vivid. The singing is impeccable. This Handel lover looks forward to further recordings of Handel's operas by Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco."
Absolutely beautiful music
Bruce Bogin | rural France | 01/12/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I love Baroque music, particularly vocal and particularly Handel operas and oratorios. I don't care much about technicalities or about story lines. This is beautiful music written by the 22 year old Handel. It includes five of the most beautiful female voices imaginable and an excellent tenor. If you like to listen to beautiful music, buy this set. You will not be disappointed. Alan Curtis the director, who also filled out some of the missing music, should be awarded a medal for this one. (Try his rendition of Vivaldi's Giustino as well.) The discussion of the opera by Anthony Hicks and the note by Mr. Curtis in the booklet are excellent. The only think missing are photos of the singers. I happen to know that the women are as beautiful as their voices. Buy it."
You really can't get much better
Baroque and opera freak | Hong Kong | 06/19/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The main point of my review is that this wonderful recording of a superb early Handel opera is now available again - in the Virgin Classics reissue of earlier Curtis Handel opera recordings for this Handel commemorative year called "Handel: Six Operas" (or "Handel 2009: 250th Anniversary"). Now this recording or this opera may not be quite as great as Radamisto (in the same set) or the recent Alcina, but the cast is impeccable and the recording - not to mention the incredibly good instrumental accompaniment - is top class, and then some. This recording was issued in 1999, and I would say that among very intense competition, Curtis and his crew probably established their leadership in recordings of Handel recordings with this opera, and of course they have kept it ever since (with some recent hot competition from Diego Fasolis, who has nothing at all against counter-tenors). Now I would love to hear the recent recording of the same opera by Al Ayre Espanol - an absolutely first-class Spanish Baroque ensemble with a lot of fine recordings under their belt - and a major claim they have to our attention is the absence of cuts (they use the full three CDs). But anyway, Handel opera lovers who don't already have all these earlier Curtis masterpieces have to get this bargain-priced reissue set first, and then they can go on to other competitive recordings if they have the listening time and the budget. I have only given four stars because after discussion with another veteran Amazon reviewer, I realized that five stars should be reserved for just a very few absolutely top recordings. It is only in comparison with Curtis recordings like Alcina, Radamisto and Rodelinda that this recording drops one notch."
IF I WERE A SOPRANO...
Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 07/01/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"...I'd think twice before sharing a stage or a CD with Sandrine Piau. She's too good. She makes "it" sound effortless, and that of course is what makes her so good. In this performance of Handel's first opera in Italy, Piau outshines four of the most skillful women stars in the heavens of Baroque music - Gloria Banditelli, Elena Cecchi Fedi, Caterina Calvi, and Roberta Invernizzi. It helps, one must acknowledge, that the arias assigned to `Esilena' - Piau's role - are the loveliest and most virtuosic of the piece. Esilena's aria at the end of Act 1 - Per dar pregio all'amor mio - with pyrotechnic violin obbligato, should be imprinted on titanium and launched in the the next intergalactic probe, to give evidence that we homosaps were not such a crude, clumsy species, despite our propensity to foul our planet.
Rodrigo was first performed in Florence in 1707. It was not Handel's first opera; he had composed at least two for the stage in Hamburg and, with his usual economy, he recycled several arias from those works for his Italian debut. If Rodrigo has a weakness, it's that there's too much recitativo, too many words to tell its convoluted story of betrayal, jealousy, and vengeance. Actually, the verse libretto by Francesco Silvani is highly refined poetry, worth reading In Italian if you can, but it was clearly too `explicit' for the operatic stage. Handel cut portions of it before the premiere and again before the second performance, and Alan Curtis has cut even more of it in his reconstruction for this recording. The cut portions of Silvani's text are included with this performance, printed in italics. One previous reviewer, obviously not a true Baroquenik, has citicized the inclusion of any recitativo at all. That wouldn't please me; recitativo is beautiful in its own manner, and is necessary in this opera to set the table for the highly-flavored dishes called arias.
The young German composer was obviously sensitive to the new aesthetic fashions of his aristocratic/intellectual patrons in Rome and Florence, an aesthetic that called for purity of genre. Unlike most stage works of the previous century, Rodrigo is all "opera seria", with no hint of commedia. The older Apollonian detachment from human frailties -- as shown in Monteverdi's Poppea, for instance -- is replaced by Dionysian passion and immediacy. Jealousy is not to be exhibited here, but to be experienced. There is no prologue on Olympus, and no deities intervene in Handel's human drama.
As the announcers say in baseball, when a pitcher dominates a hitter, Alan Curtis has "ownage" on Handel's operas. His are the reconstructed performing scores used by most ensembles, and his are the reigning conceptions of the music. His ensemble, Il Complesso Barocco, is unmatched in consistent instrumental polish. My only wish would be that more of Curtis's Handel were available on DVD as fully staged performances. As it is, Curtis's opera CDs are among the very few that I would choose to hear only, in preference to DVDs of stagings by other conductors.
This recording has been reissued in the Brilliant Classics bargain box of recordings by Il Complesso Barocco. The other five operas in the box are:
Track Listings (34) - Disc #1