Handel - Anachronistic Hearts: Arias | Muso MU045

Handel - Anachronistic Hearts: Arias

£14.49

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Label: Muso

Cat No: MU045

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 14th May 2021

Contents

Works

Handel, George Frideric

Agrippina, HWV6
» Bel piacere e godere fido amor!
Alcina, HWV34
» Ah, mio cor
Amadigi di Gaula, HWV11
» Pena tiranna
Ariodante, HWV33
» Scherza infida
Cantata HWV145, 'La Lucrezia' (O Numi eterni)
Hercules, HWV60
» Cease, ruler of the day, to rise
Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, HWV46a
» Un pensiero nemico di pace
Parnasso in Festa, HWV73
» Ho perso il caro bene
Teseo, HWV9
» Moriro, ma vendicata

Artists

Heloise Mas (mezzo-soprano)
London Handel Orchestra

Conductor

Laurence Cummings

Works

Handel, George Frideric

Agrippina, HWV6
» Bel piacere e godere fido amor!
Alcina, HWV34
» Ah, mio cor
Amadigi di Gaula, HWV11
» Pena tiranna
Ariodante, HWV33
» Scherza infida
Cantata HWV145, 'La Lucrezia' (O Numi eterni)
Hercules, HWV60
» Cease, ruler of the day, to rise
Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, HWV46a
» Un pensiero nemico di pace
Parnasso in Festa, HWV73
» Ho perso il caro bene
Teseo, HWV9
» Moriro, ma vendicata

Artists

Heloise Mas (mezzo-soprano)
London Handel Orchestra

Conductor

Laurence Cummings

About

The French mezzo-soprano Héloïse Mas, Classical Revelation of the ADAMI 2014 and laureate of the latest Queen Elisabeth Competition for singing in 2018, is accompanied by a high-powered team comprising the London Handel Orchestra and Laurence Cummings – currently one of the most highly reputed conductors for this repertory – in a magnificent programme of Handel arias. The main thread of these Anachronistic Hearts is woman: woman betrayed, abandoned, abused, desired, her emotions passing from joy to doubt, then from sadness to rage, resulting in vengeance, even death…

From the 18th century to the present day, powerful and mysterious women are always to be found at the heart of opera. However, their power was originally quite anachronistic: in a world ordered by men, the voices of women dominated the stage, often in male operatic roles, and provided proof for many critics that the world of opera was a world upside down. And the submission of women to men had been reversed not only on stage but also by their frequent responsibilities as stage directors and managers of opera houses. They thus provoked at the time a mix of admiration and moral panic concerning the impact of these ‘outlaws’ on impressionable young women (and men).

Amongst all the great composers of opera, Handel was without question one of the most convincing with regard to the dramatisation of these characters. From Poppea to Dejanira, from Alcina to Ariodante – not forgetting Lucretia broken by rape, these historic representations of women also enable them to bemore readily projected into our contemporary epoch. And if one removes the original context (as was often the case in the 18th century), they open up inexhaustible horizons for forming a new framework, the emotional and visual dimensions of which are inspired by the music of Handel.

The arias on this disc are thus of absolute modernity, and the palette of feelings that Héloïse Mas brings to each of these characters makes her first disc as soloist a feast for all listeners.

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