Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Ete, Handel: Arias

Catalogue # PHLB12

In conjunction with the Orchestra’s 30th Anniversary Season, Music Director Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra announce the launch of the ensemble’s own recording label, Philharmonia Baroque Productions. The label’s début release showcases the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in a live 1995 recording of Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été and a live 1991 recording of arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Ottone, Arianna, Radamisto and Agrippina. Hunt Lieberson had a long and fruitful relationship with McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque. The Berlioz is the last of seven acclaimed recordings she made with the orchestra and the first time she ever sang the full Berlioz song cycle in performance. Lorraine was in her element and the result was splendid. These incredibly moving performances are now available to a wide audience for the first time.

In more than two decades as its music director, Nicholas McGegan has established the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorale as the leading period-performance ensemble in America – and at the forefront of the 'historical' movement worldwide, thanks to notable appearances at such venues as Carnegie Hall, London Proms, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, Germany, where McGegan has been artistic director since 1991. Born in England, he was educated at Oxford, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. In 2010, he was awarded an OBE for “services to music overseas". Other awards include an official 'Nicholas McGegan Day' declared by the Mayor of San Francisco to mark his 20th anniversary with Philharmonia Baroque.The next release from Philharmonia Baroque will be of Haydn's Symphonies.

Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7
Handel: L'angue offeso (from Giulio Cesare)
La giustizia ha già sull'arco (from Giulio Cesare)
Ben a raggion (from Ottone)
Vieni, o figlio, e mi consola (from Ottone)
Mirami altero in volto (from Arianna in Creta)
Ombra cara di mia sposa (from Radamisto)
Qual nave smarrita (from Radamisto)
Ogni vento (from Agrippina)

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (mezzo-soprano)
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan