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Simone Kermes, Maite Beaumont, Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco - Handel: La Maga Abbandonata [2003]
![Simone Kermes, Maite Beaumont, Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco - Handel: La Maga Abbandonata [2003]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/60/b9/0063b960.jpg)
Simone Kermes, Maite Beaumont, Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco - Handel: La Maga Abbandonata: Arias and Recitatives from Rinaldo, Alcina and Amadigi [2003]
Classical | Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 88697846212 | TT: 60.29 | EAC (flac, cue, log) | Covers | 274 Mb
Classical | Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 88697846212 | TT: 60.29 | EAC (flac, cue, log) | Covers | 274 Mb
This is a concept disc. Don’t be misled by the cover art which implies that Handel wrote an opera called La Maga Abbandonata; he didn’t. This is the brain-child of the music director Alan Curtis and the writer Donna Leon who reads an extract from her novel Acqua alta on the final track of the disc.
The concept has some interest but in essence this is a recital disc and a very good one indeed. Both singers are excellent, the soprano particularly so. These extracts are described by Donna Leon in her interesting accompanying essay as "arias of rage and sorrow" in which the sorceresses who people so many of Handel’s operas do just that, rage and sorrow; note the number of crudels and crudos in the track listing! The music is stunning. I don’t think I had realised just how good Handel’s operatic music could be. If one tries to attempt entire operas one gets bogged down in the interminable plots and the vast length of them. Productions on video seem to be overwhelmed by odd directorial peccadillos so perhaps this sort of disc, consisting of short extracts, is the best way into the repertoire. Ah! Crudel from Rinaldo is a splendid example of Handel at his most intense. Ah! Mio cor from Alcina epitomises the particular character of Simone Kermes’ voice. She is somewhat of the school of Cecilia Bartoli in that she "emotes" quite hard and has an appealing breathiness of voice as well as secure pitching. Melissa’s aria Desterò dall’empia Dite from Amadigi is a stunning display of singing as well as trumpet and oboe virtuosity from soloists of the very fine original instrument group, new to me, Il Complesso Barocco.
The recording is magnificent. The lovely spacious acoustic of Bayreuth’s "other" opera house, the Markgräfliches Opernhaus, is beautifully captured. This building is one of the finest of its kind in Europe and the auditorium sounds on this recording as superb as it sounds (and looks) in reality. The extra track in which Donna Leon reads aloud from her novel is also a striking demonstration of the recording art, apart from being interesting in content. (Dave Billinge)
Cast:
Simone Kermes (soprano)
Maite Beaumont (contralto)
Il Complesso Barocco
Conductor - Alan Curtis
Track List:
Rinaldo, opera, HWV 7
1. Duetto. Fermati - No, crudel
2. Recitativo accompagnato. Dunque i lacci
3. Aria. Ah! crudel
Alcina, opera, HWV 34
4. Sinfonia
5. Aria. Ah! mio cor
6. Aria. Sta nell'Ircana
7. Aria. Verdi prati
8. Recitativo accompagnato. Ah! Ruggiero crudel
9. Aria. Ombre pallide
Amadigi di Gaula, opera, HWV 11
10. Sinfonia
11. Recitativo. D'un sventurato amante
12. Aria. Pena tiranna
13. Recitativo. Mi dride l'amante
14. Aria. Desterò dall'ampia Dite
15. Recitativo accompagnato. Addio, crudo Amadigi
16. Arioso. Io già sento
Work(s)
17. Donna Leon reads from Acqua alta
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 18. March 2015, 11:53
Simone Kermes, Maite Beaumont, Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco / Handel - La Maga Abbandonata
Used drive : PIONEER BD-RW BDR-207M Adapter: 1 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
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2 | 2:07.05 | 2:11.38 | 9530 | 19392
3 | 4:18.43 | 5:31.70 | 19393 | 44287
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11 | 41:18.42 | 0:36.34 | 185892 | 188625
12 | 41:55.01 | 5:08.20 | 188626 | 211745
13 | 47:03.21 | 0:24.57 | 211746 | 213602
14 | 47:28.03 | 6:04.22 | 213603 | 240924
15 | 53:32.25 | 1:18.59 | 240925 | 246833
16 | 54:51.09 | 1:51.59 | 246834 | 255217
17 | 56:42.68 | 3:44.53 | 255218 | 272070
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\Handel - La Maga Abbandonata.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 7.4 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FE4F8955
Copy CRC FE4F8955
Copy OK
No errors occurred
End of status report
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