G.F.Handel: Between Heaven & Earth

Date: Nov. 18, 2010

"Gorgeous French soprano Sandrine Piau gives a Handel recital of rare brilliance here, choosing showstopping arias ranging from the dazzling "Disserratevi, o porte d'Averno" from La Resurrezione to the agony of Cleopatra's "Convey me to some peaceful shore" from Alexander Balus. She is accompanied by the delightfully feisty Accademia Bizantina who enjoy tracks of their own, including the most ferocious "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" you're ever likely to hear."
– Stephen Pritchard, The Observer, 09/20/2009

***I'm perfectly aware that basa005 uploaded this one last year but here you can find the booklet. I kept it separated from the CD so you can download what you please.

TRACKS:

1. La Resurrezione | Aria ‘Disserratevi, o porte d’Averno’
2. Theodora | Recitative ‘O Thou bright Sun!’
3. Theodora | Aria ‘With darkness deep as is my woe'
4. A song for St Cecilia’s day | Aria ‘What passion cannot music raise and quell’
5. Messiah | Aria ‘Rejoice greatly’
6. Theodora | Largo
7. Alexander Balus | Aria ‘O take me from this hateful light’
8. Alexander Balus | Recitative ‘Forgive, O queen’
9. Alexander Balus | Accompagnato ‘Calm thou my soul’
10. Alexander Balus | Aria ‘Convey me to some peaceful shore’
11. Joseph and his brethren | Recitative ‘Art thou not Zaphnath? Is not Egypt sav’d?’
12. Joseph and his brethren | Aria ‘Prophetic raptures swell my breast’
13. L’allegro, Il penseroso, ed Il moderato | Duet ‘As steals the morn upon the night’ (*)
14. Solomon | Symphony (‘The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba')
15. L’allegro, il penseroso, ed il moderato Accompagnato | ‘First and chief
on golden wing’
16. L’allegro, il penseroso, ed il moderato Accompagnato | Aria ‘Sweet bird'
17. Concerto Grosso in B Flat Major, op.3 no.2 | Largo
18. Samson | Aria ‘Let the bright seraphims'
19. Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno | Accompagnato ‘Pure del cielo’
20. Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno | Aria ‘Tu del Ciel ministro eletto'

Sandrine Piau (Soprano)
*Topi Lehtipuu (Tenor)

Accademia Bizantina
Stefano Montanari

Sandrine Piau, a French soprano of fierce musical intelligence, already has a New York following based on her illustrious, varied recording ventures and her impressive but infrequent local appearances in Baroque music and opera. Piau's long-awaited recital debut as a song interpreter comes this week at Weill Recital Hall, where she'll offer a typically challenging program interspersing classic French melodies (Fauré, Chausson, Debussy) with works from two contrasting masters of Viennese modernism, Schoenberg and Zemlinsky.

Piau's latest disc, meanwhile, finds her once again in one of her fields of mastery: the music of Handel, in which she's joined by the very stylish Accademia Bizantina under Stefano Montanari. As is too often the case in today's aria programs, we get orchestral filler–though at least those three tracks are well played, with persuasive continuo work on bassoon, oboe and trumpet.

The vocal selections derive from Handel's brilliant oratorios, ranging from the most familiar (Messiah, from which we hear an exhilarating "Rejoice greatly") to genuine rarities like Joseph and His Brethren (1744) and Alexander Balus (1746), both of which furnish singer and orchestra with beautiful, compelling material. Two stunning selections from early Italian oratorios bookend the English-language settings. Piau, comprehensible and communicative, isn't idiomatic in vowel sounds (unlike her excellent guest partner for one ravishing duet, tenor Topi Lehtipuu). That caveat aside, this is a highly worthwhile CD.
Time Out New York, David Shengold, Oct 8-14, 2009

Filesonic
CD
Booklet (13Mb)

Fileserve
CD
Booklet (13Mb)

Stefano Montanari

LOG

EAC extraction logfile from 17. November 2010, 19:29 for CD
Handel - Sandrine Piau / Between Heaven & Earth

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Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Track 1
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Track 2
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Track 5
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Track 11
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No errors occured

End of status report

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