Rosemary Joshua, Sarah Connolly, The English Concert, Harry Bicket - Handel: Duets (2010) (Repost)

Posted By: tirexiss

Date: Feb. 5, 2018

Solo recitals of arias from Handel operas and oratorios are common, so it's a pleasure to hear an album devoted to his duets, particularly when they're performed as well as they are here by soprano Rosemary Joshua and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly. Both have had diverse careers, but are known especially for their Baroque roles. Their voices are especially well-matched in weight, and their blend is beautifully warm, but they are each distinctive enough that they retain a strong vocal identity even when singing in close harmony. They are absolutely secure technically, and handle even the most florid passages with easy assurance. The variety of the duets gives Joshua and Connolly ample opportunity for putting their gifts for dramatic characterization on display. In the joyful duets of lovers, such as "Streams of pleasure ever flowing" from Theodora, their voices have a relaxed radiance, that can turn blissfully ecstatic, as in "Caro! Bella!" from Giulio Cesare in Egitto, but for pure, giddy happiness, it's hard to beat their performance of "Per le porte del tormento" from Sosarme. Several duets, including "To thee, thou glorious son of worth" from Theodora, "Vivo in te" from Tamerlano, and "Io t'abbraccio" from Rodelinda, eloquently express melancholy yearning, aching grief, or simple sadness. Joshua and Connolly receive superb support from Harry Beckett, who leads the English Consort in exquisitely nuanced performances. Chandos' sound is clean, clear, and warmly ambient, and the balance is excellent.

AllMusic

Track List:

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

[1] Se teco vive il cor
from Radamisto, HWV 12a

[2] Io t’abbraccio
from Rodelinda, regina de’ Longobardi, HWV 19

[3] Welcome as the dawn of day
from Solomon, HWV 67

[4] Streams of pleasure ever flowing
from Theodora, HWV 68

[5] Notte cara!
from Ottone, re di Germania, HWV 15

[6] To thee, thou glorious son of worth
from Theodora, HWV 68

[7] Bramo haver mille vite
from Ariodante, HWV 33

[8] Great victor, at your feet I bow
from Belshazzar, HWV 61

[9] Vivo in te
from Tamerlano, HWV 18

[10] Per le porte del tormento
from Sosarme, re di Media, HWV 30

[11] No, no, ch’io non apprezzo
from Agrippina, HWV 6

[12] Caro! Bella!
from Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17

Performers:
Rosemary Joshua, soprano
Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano
The English Concert
Harry Bicket, director / harpsichord / organ

EAC Log

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 5. January 2012, 15:17

Rosemary Joshua, Sarah Connolly; English Concert, Harry Bicket / Handel - Duets

Used drive : Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5170S Adapter: 1 ID: 2

Read mode : Secure
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Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
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 : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : Yes
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

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Range status and errors

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Filename D:\temp\pics\Handel - Duets\Handel - Duets.wav

Peak level 98.0 %
Extraction speed 5.0 X
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Test CRC ACEFCDCF
Copy CRC ACEFCDCF
Copy OK

No errors occurred

End of status report

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CUETools Log

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Thanks to the Original ripper A-Z!

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