Imeneo

Magnus Staveland (Imeneo), Ann Hallenberg (Tirinto), Monica Piccinini (Rosmene), Fabrizio Beggi (Argenio), Cristiana Arcari (Clomiri) & Fabio Biondi (violin /direction) & Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi

Fabio Biondi presenteert hier met Europa Galante een meeslepende opname van Händels late opera Imeneo, opgenomen in de Dublin-versie van 1742 als een serenata met de titel Hymen. In deze versie voegde Händel enkele nieuwe aria's toe en kortte hij het libretto zorgvuldig in. Fabio Biondi brengt hier opnieuw al zijn ervaring met barokmuziek in. Het resultaat is een boeiende en bijzonder geslaagde interpretatie van deze ten onrechte verwaarloosde Händel-opera.

Handel:
 Imeneo HWV 41

"Europa Galante perform the Overture's playful Allegro expertly...Biondi's accomplished performance permits a valuable insight into Handel's pragmatism and reconstructs a historic event...Hallenberg [is] on top form."
Gramophone Magazine - March 2016

"Biondi shapes a performance in which the depth of preparation results in music-making that sounds entirely spontaneous. There's a startling variety of articulation and colour from his tiny band, and beautifully responsive continuo playing. Ann Hallenberg delivers Tirinto's grave serenades and intricate passagework with unruffled ease and an alluring mellow tone…[and] Magnus Staveland conveys louche glamour in the swashbuckling title role."
BBC Music Magazine - May 2016 ****

"Fabio Biondi allows the opera to unfold naturally...Best of all is Fabrizio Beggi, new to me, whose youthful bass copes marvellously, not just with the range demanded of it, but sings with a great sense of lone against very little accompaniment."
Opera Now - May 2016

"The cast makes a generally agreeable impression, the trump card being Ann Hallenberg’s Tirinto. I make no apology for once again extolling her merits. From the outset here she envelops the listener in the warm embrace of gloriously expressive tone, alternately touching or delighting, while at the same time demonstrating a command of Handelian style unsurpassed by any singer today."
Opera - June 2016