Nine German Arias; TELEMANN: Quartets in E minor and G major – Dorothea Roschmann, soprano/ Akademie fur Alte Music Berlin
Arias and Instrumental music from Admeto, Serse, Giulio Cesare, Radamisto, Rodelinda, Alcina, Alexander’s Feast – Andreas Scholl, countertenor/ Akademie fur Alte Music Berlin
As Steals the morn… = Arias and Scenes from Alceste, Semele, Il Tironfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, Tamerlano, Samson, Rodelinda, Esther, Jephtha, L’Allegro, il Pensoroso ed il Moderato – Mark Padmore, tenor/ Lucy Crowe, soprano, Robin Blaze, countertenor/ English Concert/ Andrew Manze, conductor – Harmonia mundi HMX 2908288.91 (4 CDs box set), 300:10 ****:
This is the first of a series of repackaged material that Harmonia mundi is reissuing. I cannot tell price-wise whether it will be much of a bargain yet (Amazon lists this one at 61.98, only a tiny price reduction), so you will have to make that decision based on what you may or may not already own. As steals the morn… is a relatively recent entry that I reviewed here, happily. The others date from 1994 to 2000 and are all some of the best Handel albums to have appeared on the scene, often culled from some of the label’s existing opera recordings. Even my allergy to countertenors is somewhat assuaged by the expert singing of Andreas Scholl on disc 3, tempered with an excellent performance of some instrumental works that include Alexander’s Feast. Disc 2 has the rare and lovely Nine German Arias split among the two Telemann quartets for flute, violin, cello, and continuo. All in all, a wonderful collection of standards that need to be in every quality Handel collection, in superb sound, assuming you don’t have too many duplications.
— Steven Ritter
