This disc is a magnificent showcase for the talents of Vivica Genaux. By combining the arias of Hasse and Handel she shows us that whilst Hasse’s virtuoso requirements hold no fears for her, she is also comfortable with Handel’s more sophisticated musical demands. Genaux is well supported by Les Violons du Roy under Bernard Labadie. The group provides a crisp, attractively bouncy accompaniment.
Classical CD of the Week
"Sensationally successful in the mid-18th century, Johann Hasse (1699-1783) was already deemed an anachronism by the end of his long life, and quickly fell into oblivion after his death. His operas, stylistically on the cusp of the baroque and the galant, trade heavily in virtuosity - the kind of extravagant display that Gluck sought to banish in Orfeo. Only singers with perfect coloratura techniques need apply.
Enter the ochre-toned Alaskan mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux, who makes an eloquent case for Hasse in arias by turns showy and soulful. She is wonderfully assured and elegant in florid passagework - what the 18th century called "long divisions" - and spins a pure, graceful line in the dulcet musette aria from the cantata La scusa.
With reams of Hasse still unexplored, it is perhaps a pity that Genaux chose to devote half the disc to assorted Handel items. The potentially searing mad scene from Orlando sounds too equable, the one relative disappointment on the disc. In compensation, Genaux delivers the thrilling aria "Sta nell'Ircana" from Alcina with flamboyant bravado, egged on by the swaggering horns of the crack Canadian band. --Richard Wigmore, Telegraph.co.uk, December 30, 2006
"Sensationally successful in the mid-18th century, Johann Hasse (1699-1783) was already deemed an anachronism by the end of his long life, and quickly fell into oblivion after his death. His operas, stylistically on the cusp of the baroque and the galant, trade heavily in virtuosity - the kind of extravagant display that Gluck sought to banish in Orfeo. Only singers with perfect coloratura techniques need apply.
Enter the ochre-toned Alaskan mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux, who makes an eloquent case for Hasse in arias by turns showy and soulful. She is wonderfully assured and elegant in florid passagework - what the 18th century called "long divisions" - and spins a pure, graceful line in the dulcet musette aria from the cantata La scusa.
With reams of Hasse still unexplored, it is perhaps a pity that Genaux chose to devote half the disc to assorted Handel items. The potentially searing mad scene from Orlando sounds too equable, the one relative disappointment on the disc. In compensation, Genaux delivers the thrilling aria "Sta nell'Ircana" from Alcina with flamboyant bravado, egged on by the swaggering horns of the crack Canadian band. --Richard Wigmore, Telegraph.co.uk, December 30, 2006
