Georg Friedrich Händel: Opera Arias & Cantatas

- Cantata HWV 170: Tra le fiamme...

- Cantata HWV 140: No se emendará jamás...

- Da tempeste - V'adoro, pupile - Che sento? Oh Dio! - Se pieta - from Giulio Cesare

- Torna mi a vagheggiar - Si, son quella - Mi restanto le lagrime - from Alcina

- Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo

Maria Bayo, soprano

Capriccio Stravagante, Skip Sempé

1999. Naïve Astrée E 8674 (fullprice)

This year has given us some Händel of vintage quality. First Marc Minkowski and his eminent Musiciens du Louvre released a disc of the composer's music for the Carmelite order, spearheaded by a superb Dixit Dominus (Archiv), then appears mezzo Dorothea Röschmann with an outstanding performance of the Deutsche Arien (Harmonia Mundi France), and last but not least this ravishing collection of operatic arias and two cantatas - spinechillingly performed by Maria Bayo and Skip Sempé's Capriccio Stravagante.

Bayo and Sempé has concentrated on arias mainly from Giulio Cesare which Bayo claims to be Händel's most beautiful opera, and Alcina in addition to the two cantatas. She has also included the beautiful and famous aria Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo. The mixture of the the dramatic and lyrical both in form and expression works convincingly, and the result is a collection of Händel vocalmusic which seems both integral and tight. It all seems to fit in very nicely. The least familiar of the works on this disc are decidedly the two cantatas; one sung in Italian, one in Spanish. These are works a far cry from Bach's largescale choral endeavors in the genre. Rather they are chamberlike and almost domestic in scale. They are both constructed with arias connected by recitatives. The charming renaissancelike hamonics of the No se emendará jamás is expertly performed by an artists whose understanding of the spanish influences naturally is hard to surpass. Also the Italian cantata Tra le fiamme with its demands for both a well developed coloratura as well as qualities in bel canto singing, comes off exellently in Bayo's lively but highly sensitive approach.

The opera arias are generally speaking radiating in Maria Bayo's interpertation. I have, slight reservations for Lascia ch'io pianga, with a vibrato verging on being edgy, but all in all the excerpts from Giulio Cesare, Alcina and Rinaldo are a pleasure to hear. The finest moment on the disc is in my ears Torna mi a vagheggiar, from Alcina. The aria is performed with such highspirited sophistication, that it leaves one breathless. The technical demands seem prosaic to Bayo, whose virtouso elegance is a treat for any lover of great song. It must also be said that her orchestral support is of the finest and most arden kind. Skip Sempé's Capriccio Stravagante is among the more sympathetic encounters I've had lately with ensembles specializing in baroque and early music repertoire. The soundtexture they create is multicoloured, rich and spicy, complementing Bayo's clean soprano perfectly.

I have rarely responded with near addiction of a recording as quickly as with Maria Bayo's and Capriccio Stravagante's collection of Händel vocal pearls. It is strange and even a bit frightening to experience the effect certain interpretations and realizations of music may have on one.

I have tried time and again to bring to light what it is that captures me so completely by this disc. Bayo's voice, crystaline and supremely articulate is captured in a rather too large venue for my taste, giving it at times a slightly hollow and cold sound. Her vibrato can - again according to my preferences - at times verge on being hard, a phenomenon not bettered by the acoustics. But in the big picture these are minute reservations. I believe it must be the tremendous spirit and vivacity in her manner of performance that grabs my attention - again and again. She fills the music with brimming life and vitality, with charm and elegance - all to an extent rarely achieved. The aesthetically pleasing and informative cd-booklet contains some of Bayo's own views on performing Händel, and an outline of her coming stageperformances. To those lucky enough to experiencing her live - Bayo is touring France and her native Spain extensively this and next year. To the rest of us she has made this marvellous disc - a flash of joy on even the darkest winternight.

The images are taken from the CD-booklet, and are the property of Naïve Astrée.

Skip Sempé & Capriccio Stravagante

© 2000 arne.mork@yahoo.com