Marc Minkowski - Handel: La Resurrezione (1996)
BAND/ARTIST: Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski
- Title: Handel: La Resurrezione
- Year Of Release: 1996
- Label: ARCHIV Produktion (DG)
- Genre: Classical
- Quality: FLAC (image + .cue, log, scans)
- Total Time: 1:48:45
- Total Size: 559 MB
- WebSite: Album Preview
• Handel's first oratorio (a sacred opera seria, really) is loaded with goodies that excite musicians and audiences alike: glittering coloratura spectaculars, showy boasts for Lucifer, grave laments, sweet elegies, plenty of pictorial instrumental effects, and the tuneful, emotionally complex, central role of Mary Magdalene. Marc Minkowski and his forces have stiff competition, especially from Christopher Hogwood's old L'Oiseau-Lyre recording (grab that if it's reissued), featuring Kirkby and Kwella at their very best. Unfortunately, while Smith is unlistenable as Magdalene--she is way past her prime--everyone else is stunning. Massis as the Angel is Kirkby's equal; Maguire and Naouri fill their music with skill and passion; Ainsley makes the potentially sleepy role of St. John mouth-wateringly beautiful. The performance isn't flawless, but it's extraordinary--buy it. -- Matthew Westphal
• La resurrezione was Handel’s second oratorio and dates from his years in Italy between 1706 and 1710. While in Rome, he enjoyed the patronage of several wealthy noblemen; one of them was the Marquis Ruspoli who commissioned La resurrezione, first performed at his residence on Easter Day 1708. The piece is an interesting one, full of dramatically effective scenes in which Handel treats his characters – Christ himself does not appear – with that humanity which was later to become such a distinctive and satisfying feature of his operas and English oratorios. Conductor Marc Minkowski has frequently proved himself a persuasive and sympathetic Handelian and, in this new, vividly projected recording, gives us a vital impression of a particularly fine sample of Handel’s youth. After a resonant instrumental Sonata, Handel, without any further ado, takes us straight into an aria of almost breathtaking virtuosity, brilliantly, if not faultlessly, sung by soprano Annick Massis as an Angel. Her opponent is Lucifer, sung with pugnacious, warrior-like declamation by bass Laurent Naouri. Mary Magdalene, for whom Handel wrote some ravishing music, is affectingly sung by soprano Jennifer Smith, while mezzo-soprano Linda Maguire and tenor John Mark Ainsley complete a strong cast.
Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5)
-- Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine
• La resurrezione was Handel’s second oratorio and dates from his years in Italy between 1706 and 1710. While in Rome, he enjoyed the patronage of several wealthy noblemen; one of them was the Marquis Ruspoli who commissioned La resurrezione, first performed at his residence on Easter Day 1708. The piece is an interesting one, full of dramatically effective scenes in which Handel treats his characters – Christ himself does not appear – with that humanity which was later to become such a distinctive and satisfying feature of his operas and English oratorios. Conductor Marc Minkowski has frequently proved himself a persuasive and sympathetic Handelian and, in this new, vividly projected recording, gives us a vital impression of a particularly fine sample of Handel’s youth. After a resonant instrumental Sonata, Handel, without any further ado, takes us straight into an aria of almost breathtaking virtuosity, brilliantly, if not faultlessly, sung by soprano Annick Massis as an Angel. Her opponent is Lucifer, sung with pugnacious, warrior-like declamation by bass Laurent Naouri. Mary Magdalene, for whom Handel wrote some ravishing music, is affectingly sung by soprano Jennifer Smith, while mezzo-soprano Linda Maguire and tenor John Mark Ainsley complete a strong cast.
Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5)
-- Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine
Classical | FLAC / APE | CD-Rip
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