Handel - Le Cantate Italiane, I – VII (La Risonanza, Fabio Bonizzoni) [2006-2010]

The chamber cantata flourished in Italy as a counterpart to public opera and oratorio, cultivated by aristocratic patrons for their personal enjoyment. Perhaps because of its essentially private origins, this pervasive Baroque form remains little known today. During his years in Italy (1706-1710), George Frideric Handel composed nearly 100 cantatas for a series of important patrons, but they have tended to be passed over in favor of his larger operas, oratorios, concertos and orchestral suites. The plan of La Risonanza to perform and record all of the cantatas with instrumental accompaniment (about one-third of the total) is therefore of signal importance for all music lovers, as it will bring this extraordinarily beautiful music once again to life (2006-2009).

This first disc presents four remarkable cantatas from early in Handel’s Italian period: Il delirio amoroso, Tra le fiamme, Figlio d’alte speranze and Pensieri notturni di Filli. Given the intensity, maturity and beauty of the cantatas, it is no surprise that Handel found them useful throughout his life, but now it is finally possible to bring these remarkable works out of Handel’s workroom and give them their own long-overdue hearing.

Tracklisting:
1. Tra Le Fiamme (Il Consiglio), HWV 170: I. Aria: Tra le fiamme
2. II. Recitativo: Dedalo gia le fortunate penne
3. III. Aria: Pien di nuovo e bel diletto
4. IV. Recitativo: Si, si, pur troppo e vero
5. V. Aria: Voli per l'aria
6. VI. Recitativo: L'uomo, che nacque per salire
7. VII. Aria: Tra le fiamme
8. Pensieri Notturni Di Filli, HWV 134: I. Recitativo: Nel dolce dell'oblio
9. II. Aria: Giacche il sonno a lei dipinge
10. III. Recitativo: Cosi fida ella vive
11. IV. Aria: Ha l'inganno
12. Il Delirio Amoroso, HWV 90: I. Sonata
13. II. Recitativo: Da quel giorno fatale
14. III. Aria: Un pensiero voli in ciel
15. IV. Recitativo: Ma fermati
16. V. Aria: Per te lasciai la luce
17. VI. Recitativo: Non ti bastava ingrato
18. VII. Aria: Lascia omai le brune vele
19. VIII. Recitativo: Ma siamo giunti in Lete
20. IX. Entree
21. X. Arietta: In queste amene
22. XI. Recitativo e Minuet: Si, disse Clori
23. Figlio D'Alte Speranze, HWV 113: I. Recitativo: Figlio d'alte speranze
24. II. Aria: Troppo costa
25. III. Recitativo: Era conforto il suo penar
26. IV. Aria: Sia guida, sia stella
27. V. Recitativo: In cosi dire
28. VI. Brillava protetto

Performer:
La Risonanza
Fabio Bonizzoni, harpsichord and direction
Roberta Invernizzi, soprano
Isabel Lehmann, recorder
Emiliano Rodolfi. oboe & recorder
David Plantier, solo violin
Oliva Centurioni, violin
Elena Telò, violin
Gianni de Rosa, viola
Caterina Dell’Agnello, cello & viola da gamba
Rebecca Ferri, cello
Vanni Moretto, violone

In the autumn of last year Fabio Bonizzoni and La Risonanza embarked on a journey taking a fresh look – musicologically as well as musically – at the chamber cantatas to Italian texts and with instrumental accompaniment composed by Georg Frideric Handel during his stay in Italy. Where the first release on Glossa focused on works associated with Cardinal Pamphili in Rome, this new recording contains pieces – including the dramatic cantata Armida abbandonata and Handel’s ‘own’ Hunt Cantata – originating in the establishment of the Marquis Ruspoli and written for sopranos such asMargherita Durastante and Vittoria Tarquini.
Here it is the Milanese soprano Emanuela Galli who takes centre stage (and she also has taken on the role of Eurydice in Glossa’s recent recording of Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo directed by Claudio Cavina). Roberta Invernizzi returns, joining forces with Galli, for Diana cacciatrice. Making use of recent research the booklet notes – written on this occasion by Karl Boehmer – help to illuminate for us Handel’s sojourn in Italy in 1707 and the origins of the five cantatas recorded here.

Tracklisting:
1. Armida Abbandonata, HWV 105: I. Accompagnato: I Dietro l'orme fugaci
2. II. Aria: Ah! Crudele, e pur ten vai
3. III. Recitativo: Per te mi struggo, infido
4. IV. Accompagnato: O voi, dell'inconstante
5. V. Aria: Venti fermate si)
6. VI. Recitativo: Ma che parlo, che dico?
7. VII. Aria: In tanti affanni miei
8. Diana Cacciatrice, HWV 79: I. La Marche
9. II. Recitativo: Alla caccia, alla caccia
10. III. Aria: Foriera la tromba
11. IV. Coro: Alla caccia
12. V. Recitativo: Tacete ola tacete
13. VI. Arietta: Di questa selva fra dubbie vie
14. VII. Coro: Alla caccia
15. Tu Fedel? Tu Costante, HWV 171: I. Sonata
16. II. Recitativo: Tu fedel? Tu costante?
17. III. Aria: Cento belle ami Fileno
18. IV. Recitativo: L'occhio nero, vivace di Filli
19. V. Aria: Se Licori, Filli ed io
20. VI. Recitativo: Ma se non hai piu d'un sol cuore
21. VII. Aria: Se non ti piace amarmi
22. VIII. Recitativo: Ma il tuo genio incostante
23. IX. Aria: Si crudel, ti lascero
24. Notte Placida e Cheta, HWV 142: I. Recitativo: Notte palcida e cheta
25. II. Aria: Zeffiretti, deh! venite
26. III. Recitativo: Momento fortunato
27. IV. Aria: Per un istante
28. V. Accompagnato: Ma gia sento che spande
29. VI. Aria: Luci belle
30. VII. Accompagnato: O delizie d'amor
31. VIII. Aria: Che non si da
32. Un'Alma Innamorata, HWV 173: I. Recitativo: Un'alma innamorata
33. II. Aria: Quel povero core
34. III. Recitativo: E pur bench'egli veda
35. IV. Aria: Io godo, rido e spero
36. V. Recitativo: In quanto a me, ritrovo)
37. VI. Aria: Ben impari come s'ama

Performer:
La Risonanza
Fabio Bonizzoni, harpsichord and direction
Roberta Invernizzi, soprano
Emanuela Galli, soprano
Isabel Lehmann, recorder
Emiliano Rodolfi. oboe & recorder
David Plantier, solo violin
Oliva Centurioni, violin
Elena Telò, violin
Gianni de Rosa, viola
Caterina Dell’Agnello, cello & viola da gamba
Rebecca Ferri, cello
Vanni Moretto, violone

In the third instalment in Fabio Bonizzoni’s survey of the secular cantatas with instrumental accompaniment composed by Georg Frideric Handel during his stay in Italy, come a quartet of works associated with the Venice-born maecenas Pietro Ottoboni – including the substantial Ero e Leandro, the libretto for which is plausibly considered to have been written by the Cardinal Ottoboni himself. As well as the seldom-performed cantata for bass, Spande ancora a mio dispetto and Ah! Crudel, nel pianto mio scored forsoprano solo, Bonizzoni also directs the Spanish-texted Nose emendará jamás.
In this latest outing Bonizzoni continues with his policy of bringing forward accomplished singers with an intense and direct feel for Handel’s Italian output. Where the first two volumes saw contributions from Roberta Invernizzi and Emanuela Galli, here, for this “Ottoboni” release, the spotlight falls on soprano Raffaella Milanesi and bass Salvo Vitale. As before, our understanding of this neglected area of Handel’s genius is enhanced by the accompanying booklet notes. Here they are provided by Livio Marcaletti, an expert on the music of Antonio Bononcini as much as on that of Handel.

Tracklisting:
1. Ero e Leandro, HWV 150: I. Recitativo: Qual ti riveggio, oh Dio!
2. II. Aria: Empio mare, onde crudeli
3. III. Recitativo: Amor che, ascoso
4. IV. Aria: Se la morte non vorra
5. V. Recitativo: Questi dalla mia fronte
6. VI. Aria: Si muora, si muora
7. VII. Recitativo: Ecco, gelide labbra
8. No Se Emendara Jamas, HWV 140: I. Aria: No se emendara jamas
9. II. Recitativo: Si del quereros es causa
10. III. Aria: Dicente mis ojos
11. Spande Ancor a Mio Dispetto, HWV 165: I. Aria: Spande ancor a mio dispetto
12. II. Accompagnato: Oh! Che da fiere pene
13. III. Aria: Da balza in balza
14. Ah! Crudel, Nel Pianto Mio, HWV 78: I. Sonata
15. II. Aria: Ah! Crudel, Nel Pianto Mio
16. III. Recitativo: Non sdegnerai d'amar
17. IV. Aria: Di quel bel ch'il ciel ti diede
18. V. Accompagnato e recitativo: Balena il cielo
19. VI. Aria: Per trofei di mia costanza

Performer:
La Risonanza
Fabio Bonizzoni, harpsichord and direction
Raffaella Milanesi, soprano
Salvo Vitale, bass
Mike Fentross, baroque guitar
Andrea Mion, oboe
Rey Ishizaka, oboe
Nick Robinson, solo violin
Carlo Lazzaroni, violin
Barbara Altobello, violin
Rossella Borsoni, violin
Silvia Colli, violin
Fabio Ravasi, violin
Gianni De Rosa, viola
Caterina Dell’Agnello, cello
Olaf Reimers, cello
Vanni Moretto, violon

Two new voices join Fabio Bonizzoni's project of recording the entirety of the cantatas with instrumental accompaniment which Handel composed when in Italy: sopranos Nuria Rial and Maria Grazia Schiavo enter the compan of Roberta Invernizzi, Emanuela Galli, Raffaella Milanesi and Salvo Vitale, the singers who we have been able to hear in the first three volumes of the collection. In this fourth instalment (out of a total of seven CDs planned for release up to the end of 2009), we rediscover the patronage of the Marquis Francesco Maria Ruspoli, which lay behind the important cantata a due entitled Aminta e Fillide; this was a work which was to provide the composer with a veritable seam of musical material for use, as "borrowings", in his operas Agrippina and Rinaldo - one of the reasons perhaps why this cantata has been rarely performed and even less recorded.
Both Aminta e Fillide and the extensive cantata for soprano, Clori, mia bella Clori, which rounds off this new disc, had their origins in the special environment of the Accademia degli Arcadi, that literary society founded by a group of aristocrats, cardinals, poets, thinkers and composers in 1690, which used to hold its meetings in idyllic spots around Rome. Karl Böhmer's informed notes contained in the CD booklet suggest a number of stimulating points of view about the meaning and significance of these works for the Arcadians.

Tracklisting:
1. Aminta e Fillide, HWV 83: Sinfonia & Recitativo: Arresta il passo
2. Aria: Fermati, non fuggir!
3. Recitativo: Questa sol volta almen
4. Aria: Fiamma bella ch'al ciel s'invia
5. Recitativo: Credi a'miei detti, Aminta
6. Aria: Forse ch'un giorno
7. Recitativo: Invano, invan presumi
8. Aria: Fu scherzo, fu gioco
9. Recitativo: Libero pie fugga dal laccio
10. Aria: Se vago rio
11. Recitativo: D'un incognito foco
12. Aria: Sento ch'il Dio bambin
13. Recitativo: Felicissimo punto, in cui nel seno
14. Aria: Al dispetto di sorte crudele
15. Recitativo: Vincesti, Aminta, e l'amoroso affanno
16. Aria: E un foco quel d'amore
17. Recitativo: Gloria bella d'Aminta
18. Aria: Chi ben ama non paventi
19. Recitativo: E pur, Filli vezzosa
20. Non si puo dar un cor
21. Recitativo: O felice in amor dolce tormento
22. Duetto: Per abbatere il rigore
23. Clori, mia bella Clori, HWV 92: Recitativo: Clori, mia bella Clori
24. Aria: Chiari lumi, voi che siete
25. Recitativo: Temo, ma pure io spero
26. Aria: Ne'gigli e nelle rose
27. Recitativo: Non e pero che non molesta e grave
28. Aria: Mie pupille (
29. Recitativo: Tu, nobil alma, intanto
30. Aria: Di gelosia il timore

Performer:
La Risonanza
Fabio Bonizzoni, harpsichord and direction
Maria Grazia Schiavo, soprano
Nuria Rial, soprano
Carlo Lazzaroni & Elin Gabrielsson, solo violins
Barbara Altobello, Elena Telò, Silvia Colli,
Giacomo Trevisani, violins
Gianni de Rosa, viola
Caterina dell’Agnello, cello
Davide Nava, double bass

In May 1707 George Frideric Handel entered into the service of the Marquis Francesco Maria Ruspoli, and under his protection, embarked upon a tremendous career. As well as making a name for himself as a spectacular virtuoso on the harpsichord and organ, through his plentiful concerts in the Roman academies, Handel lost no time in also becoming a highly sought-after composer through his felicitous and apparently inexhaustible inspiration. In addition to a significant number of cantatas for solo voice and basso continuo, Handel also involved himself in composing cantatas for larger numbers of voices, combining these with a large supporting orchestral group.
The score of Clori, Tirsi e Fileno is certainly a complex one, as much for its dramatic plotline as for its individually-chosen musical options: the result is a genuine opera in miniature, equipped with real refinement and lightness. Consequently, Clori, Tirsi e Fileno turns - even more so than with other Italian cantata works by the caro Sassone - into an authentic laboratory in which Handel experiments with the most diverse musical and dramatic forms, obtaining by this method a capacity to elaborate that special language which was to locate it firmly within the glories of the theatre, from the past and the present.

Tracklisting:
1. Clori, Tirsi e Fileno (Cor fedele, in vano speri), HWV 83: Pima Parte. Ouverture
2. Aria (T): Cor Fedele
3. Recitativo (T): Povero Tirsi
4. Aria (T): Quell' erbetta
5. Recitativo (T): Se il guardo non vaneggia
6. Aria (C): Va col canto lusingando
7. Recitativo (C,T): Dubbia cosi, o Fileno
8. Aria (F): Sai perche l'onda del fiume
9. Recitativo (C): Vezzoso pastorello
10. Aria (C): Conosco che mi piaci
11. Recitativo (F,C): Dunque sperando in vano
12. Aria (C): Son come quel nocchiero
13. Recitativo (C,T,F): S'altra pace non brami
14. Duetto (C,F): Scherzano sul tuo volto
15. Secondo Parte. Duetto (C,T): Fermati! No, crudel!
16. Recitativo (T): Creder d'un angue
17. Aria (T): Tra le fere la fera piu cruda
18. Recitativo (C): Tirsi, mio caro Tirsi
19. Aria (C): Barbaro, tu non credi
20. Recitativo (T,C): Pur cederti mi e forza
21. Aria (C):- Amo Tirsi
22. Recitativo (F): Va, fidati a promessa
23. Aria (F): Povera fedelta
24. Recitativo (T): Non ti stupir, Fileno
25. Aria (T): Un sospiretto d'un labbro pallido
26. Recitativo (F): Tirsi, amico e compagno
27. Aria (F): Come la rondinella
28. Recitativo (C,T,F): Cosi, felici
29. Terzetto (C,T,F): Vivere e non amar, amare e non laguir, languire e non penar

Performer:
La Risonanza
Fabio Bonizzoni, harpsichord and direction
Roberta Invernizzi, soprano
Yetzabel Arias Fernández, soprano
Romina Basso, alto
Andrea Mion, oboe
Elisabeth Baumer, oboe & recorder
Leila Schayegh, solo violin
Carlo Lazzaroni, Rossella Borsoni, Silvia Colli,
Raffaello Negri, Ana Liz Ojeda, Elena Telò, violins
Gianni De Rosa, Efix Puleo, violas
Caterina Dell'Agnello, cello
Rebeca Ferri, cello & recorder
Vanni Moretto, Davide Nava, double basses
Gabriele Palomba, archlute

… that the Italian Handel is here to stay! In fact, the young Saxon who took musical Rome by storm while still in his 20s seems to be elbowing the bluff and beefy London Handel aside, in terms of topnotch performances and five-star recordings. Georg Friederich Handel (1685-1759) spent only the years 1706-1710 in Italy, but he produced enough glorious music just in those years to rank among the greatest composers of the baroque. He knew the value of that music, by the way, and recycled much of it in his later operas and oratorios.
Count and later marquis Francesco Maria Ruspoli was among the great patrons of music in the Papal courts of Rome, with whom Handel resided for most of his time there. Along with Cardinals Ottoboni and Pamphili, Ruspoli was a leading `shepherd' of the Arcadian Academy, the elite circle of `counterreformation' intellectuals which dominated the musical and poetic life of the Eternal City. All three were ardent supporters of the young Handel, responsible for commissioning and presenting in their palaces most of the cantatas, serenades, and chamber operas he composed during his Italian sojourn. At those events, Handel mingled with and performed side by side with the most skillful Italian composers, instrumentalists and singers of the epoch, including Corelli, Scarlatti, and Mancini. Whatever else the Arcadian Academy may have been (and there are sundry opinions about that subject), it was a musical "think tank' of the highest order.
The three `pastoral' cantatas recorded on this CD were all commissioned by Ruspoli. `Olinto pastore' is Handel's setting of an anonymous sychophantic text, in which the shepherd Olinto and the personification of Glory exhort the River Tiber to reassert its former greatness in the world. The Tiber is obviously to be understood as Pope Clement, while `Olinto' was one of Ruspoli's Arcadian code names. The cantata is scored for two sopranos and an alto, with an orchestra including a trumpet. The alto sings the role of the ancient Tiber, who is aroused to vigor by Olinto's promises of support. The second cantata on this CD, `Duello amoroso', portrays a quarrel between the importunate shepherd Daliso (alto) and the scornful nymph Amarilli (soprano). Both cantatas offer exceptionally vibrant and virtuosic recitativos and arias for the alto singer; the premier performances were sung by the celebrated castrato Pacuale Betti, but I seriously doubt that he sang any more brilliantly than alto Romina Basso on this CD. Basso has been featured on several of the recordings of Handel's Roman cantatas by `La Risonanza', but the arias of Olinto pastore and Duello amoroso seem especially suited to her range and timbre.
Sopranos Roberta Invernizzi and Yetzabel Arias Fernández are also `regulars' with La Risonanza. This is the sixth voume of the ensemble projected recording of all of Handel's Italian cantatas, and the two sopranos sing superbly, as usual. Fernández takes the solo `spotlight' in the third cantata here, `Alpestre monte', the lament of a spurned lover who has fled to the desolate mountains, there to die in solitude. It's just two recitativos and two arias in length, but the second aria is one of the loveliest songs of melancholy in all of Handel's oeuvre. The Italian texts and translations are included for all three cantatas, but the affect of the music is so clear that words are almost superfluous.
La Risonanza is one of the finest baroque instrument ensembles performing these days. Director Fabio Bonizzoni also performs the harpsichord continuo for most of the recitativos with musical charm and sensitivity. Violinist Leila Schavegh deserves notice for the elegance of her `obbligato' passages in the arias of Olinto pastore.
The six volumes of La Risonanza's "Le Cantate Italiane di Handel" have been so uniformly splendid that I ordered thsi CD even before it was officially released. Buying all six is, I suppose, a heavy investment, but the quality of performance and of sound reproduction justifies the cost. Don't wait too long, by the way; some of the volumes are already becoming hard to find.

Tracklisting:
Olinto, pastore arcade, HWV 143
1. Sonata: Allegro (1:08)
2. Aria: Oh! Come chiare e belle [RI] (3:17)
3. Recitativo: Ma quel che piu d'ogn'altro [RI. RB] (1:05)
4. Aria: Chi mi chiama? [RB] (2:57)
5. Recitativo: Dell'arcadi foreste [RI. RB] (1:00)
6. Aria: Piu non spero [RB] (3:22)
7. Recitativo: Per te non piu rubella [RI. RB] (1:16)
8. Aria: Caro Tebro [YAF] (3:46)
9. Recitativo: Si, la Gloria son io [YAF] (0:43)
10. Aria: Tornami a vagheggiar [YAF] (2:28)
11. Recitativo: Tebro, tu non rispondi? [RI] (0:31)
12. Aria: Al suon che destano [RI] (1:11)
13. Recitativo: Di stupor, di diletto [RB, YAF] (1:03)
14. Aria: Io torno a sperare [RB] (2:44)
15. Recitativo: Di si giuste speranze [YAF] (0:41)
16. Aria: Astro clemente [YAF] (1:58)
17. Recitativo: Tebro, ti dissi il vero [RI, RB] (1:05)
18. 18. Aria: Alle voci del bronzo guerriero [RI] (2:46)
19. Coro: Viva, viva! (0:26)
Duello amoroso, HWV 82
20. Sonata: Allegro (1:33)
21. Menuetto (0:49)
22. Recitativo: Amarilli vezzosa [RB] (0:35)
23. Aria: Pietoso sguardo [RB] (3:07)
24. Recitativo: Dunque tanto s'avanza [YAF] (0:39)
25. Aria: Piacer che non si dona [YAF] (4:05)
26. Recitativo: Si, si, crudel, ti accheta [RB, YAF] (0:40)
27. Aria: Quel nocchiero [YAF] (2:12)
28. Recitativo: Amarilli, Amarilli [RB] (0:32)
29. Aria: E vanitа d'un cor [RB] (4:40)
30. Recitativo: Or su, giacche ostinato [YAF. RB] (1:47)
31. Aria a 2: Si, si, lasciami, ingrata [YAF. RB] (1:59)
Alpestre monte, HWV 81
32. Accompagnato: Alpestre monte [YAF] (0:49)
33. Aria: Io so ben [YAF] (5:00)
34. Recitativo: Quindi men vengo a voi [YAF] (1:04)
35. Aria: Almen dopo il fato mio [YAF] (5:18)

Performer:
Roberta Invernizzi, soprano
Yetzabel Arias Fernandez, soprano
Romina Basso, alto
La Risonanza
Fabio Bonizzoni - harpsichord & direction

This is the seventh and last 'volume' of La Risonanza's multi-year project of recording all of GF Handel's Italian cantatas, that is, the cantatas the twenty-something German prodigy wrote during his mere four years in Italy before his permanent relocation in England. Those four years were unquestionably formative; many of the arias Handel wrote for these cantatas would serve as his musical safe deposit box, to be plundered for re-use in his operas and oratorios for the rest of his career. La Risonanza, directed by harpsichordist Fabio Bonizzoni, has opened the ears of the world of Baroque music lovers to the flamboyant beauties of these early cantatas, with their florid virtuosity. If you've missed any of the previous six 'volumes', in their beautiful production on the Glossa label, you will want to catch up. That's the danger of hearing just one.

The notes that come with this CD, by Carlo Vitali, recount Handel's flurry of activity in Rome, Naples, and Florence, as he enjoyed fame and pursued fortune. Vitali's notes are informative enough to constitute a bonus attraction with this recording. Virtually all of the cantatas were composed on demand for immediate performance, paid for by the 'princes' of the Church and the Habsburg rulers of Naples, at that time the third-largest city of Europe. Handel's involvement with the intellectual aristocrats of Rome, the "Arcadians" who supplied many of his libretti and in whose palaces his music was performed, has been amply documented in the book 'Handel as Orpheus.'

To my ears, however, these final Italian works suggest that Handel was chafing at the aesthetics of Arcadian Counter-Reformation moderation. That's certainly how Bonizzoni and La Risonanza performs them, not in accord with the idealized 'simplicity' advocated by the Arcadians but rather as a re-assertion of the unrestrained irrational passion of 17th C Italian Baroque. "Agrippina Condotta a Morire" – a solo cantata for soprano and orchestra, sung on this CD by Roberta Invernizzi – is a wildly hysterical both in words and in music as anything in the whole course of Baroque emotional excess. Invernizzi lets all the grief and fury fly in this performance, with so much emotional energy that one almost forgets to notice how magnificent her vocal technique really is. Vital describes the libretto as a "whirlpool of conflicting attitudes." Invernizzi's performance of it is indeed a whirlpool of timbres and phrasings.

The cantata for basso and orchestra "Cuopre Talvolta il Cielo" is literally just as tempestuous. In fact, the libretto portrays a thunder storm, comparing its violence to the passions of a spurned lover. The text is certainly 'idealized' enough to meet Arcadian expectations, but Handel's music is affectively 'over the edge.' There's some evidence that it was written for a specific basso in Naples, the priest Domenico Manna, a singer in the Habsburg chapel in Vienna and Naples, and it's quite likely that Manna also sang the roles of Apollo and Polifemo in other Italian compositions by Handel. Soloistic basso parts are rare in Handel's Italian works. Manna must have had a huge range, two octaves and a fifth, and incredible agility for a basso, and his prowess surely inspired Handel's artistry.

"Apollo e Dafne" is one of Handel's most often performed Italian works in modern times. There's a fine CD of it, with Thomas Hampson singing Apollo, conducted by Nikolas Harnoncourt, recorded in the last century. (Ancient Early Music!). The story comes from Ovid, of Apollo's violent lust for the nymph Daphne, who escapes his clutches by transforming into a laurel tree. Apollo is a brute, no question of it, as unable to regulate his arrogance as any talk-show ranter on Fox News. Basso Thomas Bauer sings the role with extroverted bluster yet beautifully attuned phrasing and resonance. Roberta Invernizzi, as Dafne, responds with lyrical charm. This must have been a composition of which Handel was especially proud, since he recycled much of it in his later works. It's a lengthy cantata, almost a mini-opera, with lively orchestral scoring for strings and oboes.

Just as Handel stretched the limits of the Arcadian aesthetic in these final Italian cantatas, I also suspect that Fabio Bonizzoni has deliberately sought to challenge the 'rubric' of historically-informed baroque performance practice, moving beyond the assumptions thereof. This ultimate recording is significantly broader and more Dionysian in affect than any of the previous six volumes. You'll hear the difference most in basso Furio Zanasi's performance of Cuopre Talvolta. Zanasi has a familiar voice; he's sung not only with La Risonanza but with nearly every top-drawer vocal ensemble in Italy. But he's never sounded like this before! In this performance, he rolls his "rrrr"s and flaunts his 'squillo' like a Neapolitan singing Verdi at La Scala! And Bonizzoni moderates his tempi to allow such melodramatic mannerisms. I'm sure some long-time advocates of HIPP will hear this performance as a provocation, but Bonizzoni isn't alone in his attempt to 'get past' historical authenticity. Conductors Emmanuele Haim and Christina Pluhar have been pushing the edges for a decade. Zanasi's and Bonizzoni's interpretation of Cuopre Talvolta is EXAGGERATED! I would hate to hear it imitated widely. But it's also a lot of fun for the ears. It has the 'authenticity' of excellent musicianship.
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Tracklisting:
1. Apollo e Dafne, HWV 122. Recitativo: La terra e liberata (0:45)
2. Aria: Pende il ben dell'universo (3:42)
3. Recitativo: Ch'il superbetto Amore (0:31)
4. Aria: Spezza l'arco e getta (2:49)
5. Aria: Felicissima quest'alma (5:19)
6. Recitativo: Che voce! Che beltа (0:58)
7. Aria: Ardi, adori e preghi (2:57)
8. Recitativo: Che crudel! (0:16)
9. Duetto: Una guerra ho dentro il seno (2:04)
10. Recitativo: Placati al fin (0:21)
11. Aria: Come rosa in su la spina (2:20)
12. Recitativo: Ah, ch'un dio non dovrebbe (0:21)
13. Aria: Come in ciel benigna stella (4:26)
14. Recitativo: Odi la mia ragion (0:25)
15. Duetto: Deh, lascia addolcire (2:29)
16. Recitativo: Sempre t'adorero (0:19)
17. Aria con Recitativo: Mie piante correte (3:04)
18. Aria: Cara pianta co' miei pianti (5:37)
19. Agrippina condotto a morire, HWV 110. Recitativo: Dunque sarа pur vero (1:07)
20. Aria: Orrida, oscura (3:05)
21. Recitativo: Ma pria che d'empia morte (1:00)
22. Aria: Renda il cenere il tiranno (2:15)
23. Recitativo: Si, si, del gran tiranno (1:15)
24. Arioso e Recitativo: Come, o Dio! (6:07)
25. Aria: Se infelice al mondo (5:12)
26. Recitativo: Prema l'ingrato figlio (1:01)
27. Aria: Su, lacerate il seno (1:35)
28. Recitativo: Ecco a morte (0:35)
29. Cuopre talvolta il cielo, HWV 98. Accompagnato: Cuopre talvolta il cielo (1:25)
30. Aria: Tuona, balena (3:15)
31. Recitativo: Cosi fiera procella (1:03)
32. Aria: Per pietа de' miei martiri (4:13)

Performer:
Roberta Invernizzi, soprano;
Thomas E. Bauer, bass;
Furio Zanasi, bass.

La Risonanza:
Andrea Mion, Elisabeth Baumer, oboe; Marco Brolli, traverse; Dana Karmon, bassoon; Nicholas Robinson, Silvia Colli, Ana Liz Ojeda, Carlo Lazzaroni, Rossella Borsoni, Barbara Altobello, violins; Gianni de Rosa, viola; Caterina Dell'Agnello, Marco Testori, cello; Nicola Barbieri, double bass. Fabio Bonizzoni, harpsichord.