Handel/ Invernizzi/ Ciofini - Queens

An album of Handel opera arias from Roberta Invernizzi is outstanding in it's own right because it completely breaks new ground for the Milanese soprano. True, she has taken part in compelte operas on disc as on stage, and has recorded plenty of arias by other composers of the time such as Vivaldi, Leo, Porpora, Feo or Mancini. This new release from Glossa, however, sees Invernizzi reflecting Handel's special brand of emotional investigation and making her selection from th emany regal characters which pepper Handel's operas - Cleopatra, Berenice, Arianna and Alcina, among them - and their ardent, affecting, distraught and stately feelings. These are choppy waters through which Roberta Invernizzi sails with unquestionable skill: complete control of her native language and dominance of Handel's stylistic demands in canto espressivo and canto d'agilita - all being allied to her lustrous vocal tones. She finds responsive and sympathetic accompaniment from Fabio Ciofini and his Accademia Hermans, which works extensively in the Perugian Teatro Cucinelli in Solomeo. Invernizzi's majestic sweep of Handelian queens also takes us through a chequered period in the composer's career, when he led the two Royal Academies of Music in the 1720's and 1730's. At this time, he was writing for magnificent and tempestuous divas such as Francesca Cuzzoni and Anna Maria Strada del Po - a selection of their roles is to be heard on this recording.