Arie Per Basso

I highly recommend this magical recording to any lover of opera and singing. This varied selection has some of the most interesting Handel arias for the low voice breathtakingly performed by the bass Lorenzo Regazzo and very competently directed by Rinaldo Alessandrini.
Regazzo's brilliant cascades of coloratura, his dark sumptuous tone, aristocratic style and contagious enjoyment of this music make listening to this album a sensuous pleasure. But what sets the singer apart from others in this repertoire is that he doesn't "sing" the characters, he lives and breathes them, from humorous languor of Claudio's love serenades to the deepest tragedy of "Gelido in ogni vena". He is a superb interpreter, his rich mercurial tone constantly changing in response to the slightest hint from music and text, filling each sound with its own meaning, colour and emotion. This way every note is used to paint vivid portraits of the characters' inner world, and even the world around them, be it the storm from "Orlando" or the sunny skies of "Apollo and Dafne".
With this album Regazzo sets the gold standard in interpretation and technique for a baroque bass: this is the most beautiful, virtuosic, and expressive performance of this repertoire of all that I have heard before.

1. Siroe: Ouverture
2. Recitativo Cosroe "No, io per sua pena" I
3. Aria Cosroe "Se il mio paterno amore" I
4. Recitativo Cosroe "Ove son? Che m'avvenne?" III
5. Aria Cosroe "Gelido in ogni vena" III
6. Orlando: Accompagnato Zoroastro "Impari ognun da Orlando" III
7. Aria Zoroastro "Sorge infausta una procella" III
8. Agrippina: Aria Claudio "Pur ritorno a rimirarvi" I
9. Recitativo Claudio, Poppea* "Ma, o ciel, mesta e confusa"
10. Arietta Claudio "Vieni, o cara" I
11. Serse: Recitativo Elviro "Me infelice..." II
12. Arietta Elviro "Del mio caro Bacco amabile" II
13. Alcina: Ouverture - Musette - Menuet
14. Aria Melisso "Pensa a chi geme" II
15. Tamerlano: Aria Leone "Amor da guerra e pace" II
16. Cantata "dalla guerra amorosa" - Recitativo "Dalla guerra amorosa"
17. Aria "Non v'alletti un occhio nero"
18. Recitativo "Fuggite, si fuggite!"
19. Aria "La bellezza è com'un fiore"
20. Finale "Fuggite... a chi servo d'amor"
21. Cantata "apollo e dafne" - Recitativo "Placati alfin, o cara"
22. Aria Apollo "Come rosa in su la spina"

If one thinks about Handel's vocal outputs, perhaps he did not write as much for the high male voice (reserving mainly for the castrati singers eminent of that era), as for the bass.
Did Handel wrote as good for the bass as for the tenor? I would say that he wrote better works for the bass - his musical style sits in beautifully for the low male voice: mellow, deep and affecting.
Lorenzo Regazzo is probably the most outstanding basso cantante of this era, while some calls him basso coloratura. His voice is lyrical and full, flexible and expressive in a way that is reminiscent of the great basso cantante Cesare Siepi. Regazzo even boosts of greater agility than his eminent predecessor.
No matter how you term Regazzo's voice, this album offers a wonderful opportunity for Handel lovers to savour the beautiful compositions by Handel for the low male voice.
As one earlier reviewer so comprehensively pointed out, each group of 'excerpts' or arias from a Handel opera is grouped together. This is a very good way of presenting the extent to which the composer wrote for the bass in the various works. Regazzo leaves no qualms in submerging into each 'group' of characters. The innate musicality of Handel's arias are wonderfully presented in their authenticity. The ability to interpret Handel has been reserved for English singers by custom. Regazzo proves here that he is the exception.
Highly recommended.

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