Sandrine Piau - Handel: Arias and Duets / Handel: Between Heaven and Earth (2013)

Handel's opera arias have been very well treated on disc; the duets not so generously. This collection should adjust the balance for a couple of reasons. One, the intelligent programming, which features selections not found on its closest competition--the excellent 2004 Virgin Classics release with Joyce DiDonato and Patrizia Ciofi; and two, the first-rate singing that not only captures the full measure of Handel's theatrical writing but shows how two distinctly different voices can combine to make scintillating, greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts performances. The opening duets from Poro, Orlando, and Radamisto make solid, stand-alone concert numbers, and soprano Sandrine Piau makes a strong technical/stylistic impression in her first solo aria ("Mà chi punir desio", from Flavio). Not so impressive is contralto Sara Mingardo's subsequent turn in her Tamerlano aria, where her "ha-ha-ha" melismatic articulation is a distracting turn-off. Some listeners won't mind, but this kind of lazy technique just makes me cringe.

Fortunately, this is all forgotten when we come to the heart of the recital where Mingardo loses the "ha-ha-ha" affect and makes really memorable music with Piau in the duet from Rinaldo, while a few minutes later she delivers the most moving, heart-rending "Pena tiranna" (from Amadigi di Gaula) ever recorded. Meanwhile, Piau contributes her own stunning performances of solo arias from Alessandro and Ezio.

While it's easier to accept a solo aria as a performance piece without necessarily having to know much--or anything--about its context in the opera (not that such information doesn't help our appreciation), the contextual details of a duet are even more crucial to a listener because here we have an interaction between two characters whose motivation is essential to understanding both the musical and dramatic cues. Piau and Mingardo are masters of character and of setting the dramatic mood, and conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano are ideal partners, whether in setting proper tempos or providing steady rhythmic support, or in laying down a vibrant, richly-colored instrumental foundation for one or both voices. This is exceptional music-making, and an important addition to the Handel opera catalog.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
reviewing the original release of Arias & Duets, Naive 30483

French soprano Sandrine Piau is a singer with formidable technique and exceptional musical sensibility. She’s proven this on many previous recordings, but if you’re in doubt, just listen to the way she dispatches the insanely fast roulades in the opening aria “Disserratevi, o porte d’Averno” from the oratorio La Resurrezione. Yes, the speed may be a little excessive and “show-off-y”, but Piau manages it with seeming ease, turning what could have been just an impressive but musically pointless theatrical stunt into a thrilling four-and-a-half-minute study of unadorned, honest vocal virtuosity.

The rest of this thoughtfully programmed Handel recital is designed to show various and varied examples of the composer’s treatment of the soprano voice in both oratorio and ode, and Piau and her very capable partners (including on one track, tenor Topi Lehtipuu, and on several others oboist Molly Marsh—both memorable names, to be sure) leave us impressed and satisfied in both the musical substance and outstanding musicianship exhibited, from the most obscure recitative (“Calm thou my soul”, from Alexander Balus) to the best-known aria (“Rejoice greatly”, from Messiah—the marvelous yet rarely-heard 12/8 version, no less!). While this is far from a “greatest hits” collection—most of these pieces are not frequently heard or recorded—that will in no way dampen this disc’s appeal for true lovers of Handel’s soprano arias or for fans of Sandrine Piau (and who isn’t one of those?).

-- David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
reviewing the original release of Between Heaven & Earth, Naive 30484