Handel: Alcina / Curtis

DiDonato, as the titular sorceress, impresses with her firework-despatch of the more technically demanding music . . .
Andrew Clark, Financial Times (London) / 07. March 2009

This could be the "Alcina" we've been waiting for . . . Curtis sets the tone – vibrant, alert and alive. He is blessed with a luxury cast of singers, led by the imperious Joyce DiDonato. The drama hums along, while the forces of Il Complesso Barocco simultaneously prove the most sensitive of accompanists. Wonderful . . . This "Alcina" is polished and passionate, the standard of da capo ornamentation unsurpassed . . . [Curtis] knows how to coax the best from his singers. Joyce DiDonato, Maite Beaumont and Karina Gauvin have worked with him before and contribute vividly informed portrayals of the principal characters that stand comparison with the best performances on previous recordings . . . DiDonato is superb: her Alcina is a complex, feminine creature, vain and vindictive – listen to her spine-tingling performance of "Ombre pallide" and the recitative that precedes it in Act 2. Beaumont is at ease in Carestini's role as Ruggiero – heroic when required . . . and more than equal to the demands of the much-loved "Verdi prati" (Act 2). Gauvin, her silk-clad Morgana fully as manipulative as Alcina, and Prina, the ever faithful Bradamante, each bring tremendous spirit and sensuousness to their roles . . .
Julie Anne Sadie, Gramophone (London) / 01. May 2009

Here mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato brings firebrand "fioritura" (vocal embellishment), impeccably naturalistic recitative and an inimitable every woman pathos to the soprano title-role . . . Maite Beaumont's Ruggiero delivers an elegant "Verdi prati" . . . The orchestral playing is . . . with admirably close co-ordination between the violins and oboes, lovely recorder obbligati, and a vivacious realisation of the ballet . . .
Anna Picard, BBC Music Magazine (London) / 01. June 2009

Alan Curtis and his cast for Alcina, led by the brilliant Joyce DiDonato, bring such theatrical richness and linguistic precision to a new CD set it's hard to believe this was a studio effort and not the culmination of a lengthy performance run. Here are characterizations of astonishing range and subtlety, with confrontation scenes that sizzle. Curtis has found a way to pack all the drama – without the visual luxury of spectacular transformations, magic tricks and scenic quick-changes – into the sound, superbly recorded by Deutsche Grammophon Archiv . . . As we've come to expect from Curtis, the recitatives are packed with drama, and the vocal casting is right on the mark, with an Alcina and Morgana (the excellent Karina Gauvin) who actually sound like sisters in their sensual phrasing and tonal bite, as well as a Ruggiero (Spanish mezzo-soprano Maite Beaumont) with plenty of vocal swagger. In addition, soprano Laura Cherici's opaque sound is perfectly suited to the youthful male role of Oberto, while Sonia Prina, as Bradamante, is powerfully effective in Handel's low-lying coloratura. She even manages to sound like a girl who spends half the opera disguised as a man. Kobie van Rensburg and Vito Priante bring vocal and stylistic authority to the roles of Oronte and Melisso. At the center of this first-rate cast, DiDonato makes each of Alcina's arias a beautifully shaped emotional moment, from the untroubled "Dì, cor mio," in which Handel's short phrases and DiDonato's perfect trill give the effect of a happily purring kitten, to the final aria, "Mi restano le lagrime," for which the singer has drained all femininity and sensuality from her voice, leaving only an intense, tormented thread to shape the jagged and harsh vocal line. In between, DiDonato relishes the character's contradictions, showing a variety of vocal colors for Alcina's sorcery scene and offering a deeply felt rendition of the great accompanied recitative before the haunted and obsessive "Ombre pallide." In the internalized, tormented "Ah! mio cor," with its palpitating and fitful accompaniment, the singer suggests outrage, hurt and bewilderment, framed by startling cadenzas for the drawn-out cry on the initial "Ah!" In spite of its enchanted-island setting, Curtis's take on this opera is tinged with sadness, and he never goes for the obvious in his musical choices. When Alcina's spectacular palace appears (in Scene 2) amid thunder and lightning, the conductor sets the tone of languid sensuality that characterizes this fantastical world. In Ruggiero's final confrontation with Alcina, Beaumont's voice retains traces of regret and shame, while Gauvin allows junior sorceress Morgana to reveal sincerity and sorrow in the Bach-like sonorities of "Credete al mio dolore," with its exquisite solo cello. Il Complesso Barocco, the period orchestra spearheaded by concertmistress Elizabeth Blumenstock, contributes strongly to this must-have recording.
Judith Malafronte, Opera News (New York) / 01. September 2009