Happy Valentine's Day to the lovers. To the loners, though, I hope it isn't as bad for you as it is for Ariodante as he sings this disturbingly beautiful aria during the Handel opera (Ariodante).
Our hero has been fooled into believing that his fiancee, Princess Ginevra (Guinevere), had been having a tryst with his rival, Polinesso. And, being a stupendously sensitive warrior, Ariodante finds the offense very hard to live with.
This is sung by Vesselina Kasarova, the Bulgarian mezzo-soprano who can condense tears out of musical notes, at a concert in Weimar in 2008. She is accompanied by Harry Bicket and the period instruments of The English Concert chamber orchestra.
If this catches your imagination and shakes your notion that opera is only for the high brow snobs, check out Kasarova's latest CD 'Sento Brillar' on the RCA Red Seal label. Baroque music can be a rockingly soulful thing to listen to when done by an artist like this rather than just by a singer!
1 comment:
Listened to this, from A to z: great music, Händel and Ms. Vesselina. Dark, melodious voice.
Georg
Post a Comment