BaL 16.01.21 - Handel: Tamerlano

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 Building a Library
Roger Parker chooses his favourite version of Handel’s Tamerlano.

Tamerlano is one of the three operatic masterpieces that Handel wrote in 1724, a year in which he also composed Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda. Handel operas used to be considered a very specialist interest, but over recent decades changes in taste and the rise of many new singers who specialise in the interpretation of this music, means that we are in a golden age for recordings of baroque opera.

Available versions:-

Derek Lee Ragin, Nigel Robson, Nancy Argenta, Michael Chance, Jane Findlay, René Schirrer, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner *


Franz Mazura, Helen Donath, Kieth Engen, Raili Kostia, Kari Nurmela, Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke & Cappella Coloniensis, Ferdinand Leitner

Maureen Lehane, Alexander Young, Norma Burrowes, Janet Baker, Patricia Kern, Bryan Drake, English Chamber Orchestra, Anthony Lewis

Plácido Domingo, Monica Bacelli, Ingela Bohlin, Sara Mingardo, Jennifer Holloway, Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Real, Paul McCreesh (DVD/Blu-ray)


Xavier Sabata, Max Emanuel Cencic, John Mark Ainsley, Karina Gauvin, Ruxandra Donose, Pavel Kudinov (Leone), Il Pomo d’Oro, Riccardo Minasi *


Gwendolyn Killebrew, Alexander Young, Sophia Steffan, Joanna Simon, Carole Bogard, Marius Rintzler, Chamber Orchestra of Copenhagen, John Moriarty


Nicholas Spanos, Mata Katsuli, Mary-Ellen Nesi, Tassis Christoyannis, Irina Karaianni, Petros Magoulas, Orchestra of Patras, George Petrou


Monica Bacelli, Thomas Randle, Graham Pushee, Anna Bonitatibus, Elisabeth Norberg-Schulz, Antonio Abete, The English Consort, Trevor Pinnock (DVD)


Sophie Karthäuser, Ann Hallenberg, Delphine Galou, Christophe Dumaux, Jeremy Ovenden, Nathan Berg, Caroline D’Haese, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset (DVD/Blu-ray)

* = download only

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well - that was a bit easier than the Rachmaninov.

[Goon525]

Well if it’s going to be limited to audio versions which are available in physical media, this may not take long!

[MickyD]

Well if it’s going to be limited to audio versions which are available in physical media, this may not take long!

And hopefully that might mean that for once we get some decent comparisons. I'm pretty sure that it will be a toss up between Petrou and Minasi, they were both well received when they came out and are more complete than the Gardiner, which I have. Will be interested to hear if I can be tempted to cough up for another version.

[MickyD]

Aw, come on folks, surely someone must have something to say about a great Handel opera?!

[verismissimo]

Aw, come on folks, surely someone must have something to say about a great Handel opera?!

This crowd not so big on music, particularly opera, before, say, Verdi.

[vinteuil]

Aw, come on folks, surely someone must have something to say about a great Handel opera?!

... well, I've got the J-E Gardiner - but may be looking for something here : I expect I'll be in the market for the Minasi



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[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This crowd not so big on music, particularly opera, before, say, Verdi.

I don't suppose many of us have seen or heard this opera. It's not so long since Handel's operas were dismissed as being stilted and not worth bothering about. With that in mind, the small number of recordings available is surely a blessing.

[vinteuil]

... the small number of recordings available is surely a blessing.

... could you explain? The more recordings of this masterpiece the better, surely?

Would you like there to be fewer recordings of Beethoven 7 - or of the Alpie Symphony??

.

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[Pulcinella]

... could you explain? The more recordings of this masterpiece the better, surely?

Would you like there to be fewer recordings of Beethoven 7 - or of the Alpie Symphony??

.

.

Alpie can answer for himself, but I took his comment to mean that the fact that we have any recordings at all, albeit not very many, is a blessing.

[Bryn]

Alpie can answer for himself, but I took his comment to mean that the fact that we have any recordings at all, albeit not very many, is a blessing.

Indeed. A case of seeing the glass half full or half empty.

[vinteuil]

Alpie can answer for himself, but I took his comment to mean that the fact that we have any recordings at all, albeit not very many, is a blessing.

... fair enuff





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[Nick Armstrong]

... could you explain? The more recordings of this masterpiece the better, surely?

Apart from lightening Alpie’s load.... within the narrow remit of Building a Library, a very short ‘long list’ tends to make for a much more satisfying programme...

[verismissimo]

… It's not so long since Handel's operas were dismissed as being stilted and not worth bothering about ...

Only about half a century ago, Alpie.

[LHC]

I saw it 10 years ago at Covent Garden in the Graham Vick production preserved on the DVD with Paul McCreesh. Kurt Streit sang Tamerlano (very well as I recall), substituting for Placido Domingo. Although the rest of the cast looked promising on paper, in practice they were poor. Christianne Stotijn and Sara Mingardo were largely inaudible, while Christine Shafer appeared to be having real vocal problems. The best singing of the night came from Renata Pokupic in one of the minor roles. The production wasn't well received, and the whole thing was another in a long line of failures with Handel at the Opera House (for some reason, ENO has been much more successful with Handel than the Royal Opera).

Despite all the problems, I enjoyed the opera, and will be interested to hear this BAL. I have the McCreesh DVD (a much better performance than at Covent Garden), but don't have a CD recording.

Edited to say, the Vick production may not have worked, but the elephant was fun.