Classical album review: Handel: Alcina
HANDEL: ALCINA Il Complesso Barocco and Alan Curtis ***** DG Archiv 477 7374, £24.99
The 250th anniversary of Handel's death has meant a spate of new recordings, several of them from Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco. They're marked by an attention to detail and the ability to engage just the right voice for the role.
Handel's 1735 opera Alcina is no exception: it proved the hit of the London season that year, probably thanks to a combination of fine music and magical stage effects: the recently opened Covent Garden theatre had been designed to ensure operas looked as good as they sounded (promoting home-grown talent over expensively imported Italians probably did no harm).
The plot ends happily with evil vanquished and good triumphant as Joyce DiDonato and colleagues deliver some stunning arias.
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