Handel/ Joan Sutherland / Bernadette Greevy - Handel Arias

A newly compiled anthology of Decca recordings on Eloquence surveys the healthy state of Handel singing in England in the 1960s, before this music became the preserve of musicians and singers within the period-instrument movement. This generous (145-minute) collection is based around a pair of newly re-mastered recital albums made by the contralto Bernadette Greevy and the bass Forbes Robinson. Greevy was a true contralto in the tradition of Kathleen Ferrier, Helen Watts, Janet Baker and Norma Procter. Her 1965-56 recital was drawn from a wide range of Handel's Italian operas (Ottone, Partenope, Alcina, Admeto, Rodelinda, Rinaldo, Atalanta), and it displayed the richness of her voice to fullest advantage, as well as formidable vocal technique and excellent Italian diction. Robinson's 1966 recital represents a wide spectrum of the composer's music in opera, ode, masque and oratorio from 1719 through the 1740s, including familiar favourites ('O ruddier than the cherry' in Acis and Galatea) alongside much rarer delights such as 'Si, tra i ceppi' from the early Berenice.