Christian Curnyn, Early Opera Company - George Frideric Handel: Flavio (2010)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 671 Mb | Total time: 77:03+69:20 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 0773(2) | Recorded: 2010
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 671 Mb | Total time: 77:03+69:20 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 0773(2) | Recorded: 2010
Early music specialists are still working through the wealth of Handel operas that began coming more to light in the late 20th century. Flavio, Rè di Longobardi remains one of his more obscure works. Its musical variety and richness make it a piece that deserves more attention and this excellent recording in Chandos' series of Baroque operas featuring Christian Curnyn and Early Opera Company makes a strong case for it. The plot, like that of many of Handel's operas, is convoluted to the point of being indecipherable, but each of the characters is carefully drawn. These singers invest each one with an incisive dramatic distinctiveness, and their voices are different enough that here is never in doubt as to which characters are singing. Curnyn leads a superb cast in an elegant performance.