Handel: Duetti e Terzetti Italiana
Roberta Invernizzi ,Silvia Frigato,Krystian Adam,Thomas Bauer,Fabio Bonizzoni & La Risonanza
Handel: Duetti e Terzetti Italiana
Roberta Invernizzi ,Silvia Frigato,Krystian Adam,Thomas Bauer,Fabio Bonizzoni & La Risonanza
Fabio Bonizzoni returns with a further Glossa release dedicated to the chamber vocal output of Georg Friedrich Handel: here, a second volume of duets (and trios), which features the vocal talents of Roberta Invernizzi, Silvia Frigato, Thomas Bauer and Krystian Adam.
Whilst Handel wrote these small-scale vocal works across his career, this new selection focuses on that astonishingly fertile brief stay that the young Saxon made in Italy from 1707-09 (when he also produced many of the cantatas which Bonizzoni has recorded to great critical success for Glossa). These sensual duets and trios are imbued with Handel’s discovery of Italian - especially the Arcadian - culture, which included him hearing and understanding the music of Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti. How quickly and successfully Handel developed the chamber duet form is discussed in another of Stefano Russomanno’s detailed explorations of Handel’s music in the booklet essay.
Much of the music for these duets and trios on this recording is scored for soprano and bass singers and Roberta Invernizzi, in particular, is afforded another opportunity to demonstrate her magical reaction to Handel’s responsiveness to the Italian language. Not to be outdone in this respect are also the other vocal solists and of course the experienced continuo team from La Risonanza: Caterina Dell'Angello (cello), Evangelina Mascardi (theorbo) and Fabio Bonizzoni himself (harpsichord).
Review
Alexandra Mathew
Although German-born, some consider Handel quintessentially English, thanks to the renown of his oratorios. In fact, he was as German as he was English as he was Italian, such was his extraordinary ability to set each language as if it were his native tongue, and to adopt differing nationalistic styles into his music as the occasion required. Aged 21, Handel travelled to Italy in 1706, where he lived until 1710, during which time he was influenced by the music of Corelli and Scarlatti. His Italian sojourn was hugely important to his formation as composer for the voice, and it was then that Handel wrote some of the lesser-known duets and trios performed here by sopranos Roberta Invernizzi and Silvia Frigato, and tenor Thomas Bauer.
The often contrapuntal-style vocal writing is certainly different from the lyrical music of the Messiah, but the result is no less moving. Invernizzi’s soprano is well suited to this repertoire, and her light voice easily negotiates the frequent passages of coloratura. Less appealing is Frigato, whose occasionally loose vibrato gives the impression of poor intonation, but the two voices blend beautifully in the duet ‘Amor gioje mi porge’. However, all told, this is a fabulous recording.
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