Ariodante [Box set]

I have not heard the recent Minkowski version of this opera featuring von Otter but I doubt it could surpass this effort. After all, how do you improve upon perfection? Regal, stately and lush music envelops you as each aria surpasses the previous one. This is director Raymond Leppard at his finest. And what a line up of vocal stars! The best of yesteryear including Janet Baker herself along with Edith Mathis, James Bowman and Samuel Ramey. And don't forget Norma Burrowes who has a prettier singing voice than Emma Kirkby in my opinion. Her voice rings as clear as a bell on this recording. Though I am not schooled in the fine art of music criticism I have been an avid listener of classical music and opera for some time now and have heard a wealth of various performances by the biggest names and in the various styles both period and modern and everything in between. This definitely ranks up there with one of the greatest recordings of a Handel opera, my favorite composer by the way. Believe me you won't be disappointed in this recording. And at half the price of the Minkowski entry you can't go wrong. Enjoy!

I think like Robert Nichols that this is an excellent version of this work, that proves that an interpretation could be authentic without old or "ancient" instruments, I explain me: all the authenticist players or "ancient" orchestras uses what they names "authentic instruments", but I answer to you: which of all this interpretations is the really authentic: Harnoncourt's, Gardiner's, Hogdwood's, etc? Well, in the 80's the English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) was without discussion the best chamber orchestra in the world, and conductor Raymond Leppard was in Haendel's works an specialist, and he gives me more confiance than the other conductors before mentioned. And the singers? superlative... ¡None sings the "Doppo notte, atra e funesta" in III Act, like Janet Baker!. I highly recommend this recording. Oscar Olavarría <oscarolavarria@yahoo.es>

I have owned and loved this recording since it first appeared over thirty years ago and can find no reason to replace it with a more modern, "historically informed" version. The ECO under Leppard were specialists even then in capturing the sprung rhythms and sprightly gait of Handel at his most melodious. This might have been composed relatively late in the heyday of Italian opera in London but it was staged in the same year (1735) as another Handelian masterpiece, "Alcina" and although Handel was moving into English oratorio there was still plenty of life and box-office in the fading art form which had brought him to fame. He had superb singers at his disposal; fortunately, so does Leppard here with a cast quite unrivalled today and headed by Janet Baker in her prime, deeply moving in "Scherza infida" and absolutely thrilling in her bravura aria, "Dopo notte". This is a Handel performance to rank alongside her "Julius Caesar" for the ENO.

However, she is by no means the whole show. Edith Mathis and Norma Burrowes were possessors of two of the loveliest sopranos on the circuit and both sing with sweet-toned beauty. Sam Ramey as the wronged, upstanding king brings his rich, sonorous, flexible bass to bear on a role typecast for him, while David Rendall's plaintive tenor lends distinction to the smaller role of Lurcanio. James Bowman's hooty countertenor will be an acquired taste for some but he is wholly reliable and in character in a role very similar and in the same tessitura as another creepy Handelian lowlife, Ptolemy.

The first, older CD issue provided a libretto whereas the Trio bargain set has only a synopsis. The sound is typical of Philips recordings of that era: warm clear, impeccable. The plot is melodramatic and fast-moving by the standards of Baroque opera beloved of the da capo form. There is a wider variety of musical form and emotion than is the case in some of Handel's less inspired works; this opera remains among his top half dozen and it is unlikely to receive a better recording.