COMPOSERS: Handel
LABELS: Chandos Chaconne
WORKS: Apollo e Dafne; Crudel tiranno Amor
PERFORMER: Nancy Argenta (soprano), Michael George (bass); Collegium Musicum 90/Simon Standage
CATALOGUE NO: CHAN 0583 DDD
The most prolifically tuneful of Handel’s early works, Apollo e Dafne is forty minutes of flowing melodic invention. Completed in Hanover around 1710, soon after his return from Venice, the cantata displays the fruits of Handel’s years in Italy, with its graceful arias, variety of instrumental colour (flute, oboe, bassoon, cello and violin are featured) and a mythological subject taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The chaste nymph Dafne is transformed into a tree to save her from the unwelcome advances of the god Apollo. Handel’s music suggests that Apollo too is changed, the strutting vainglory of ‘Spezza l’arco e getta l’armi’ giving way to the regretful ‘Cara pianta, co’miei pianti’. Michael George and Nancy Argenta sing superbly, realising both the music’s limpid sensuality and its dramatic frissons, while Collegium Musicum 90 provide elegant, spirited support.
The solo cantata Crudel tiranno Amor, composed in London around 1721, comprises three delightful arias. Nancy Argenta’s singing is again beautiful and affecting, especially in ‘O dolce mia speranza’, with its heart-rending vocal line and echoing violin. Though both cantatas are relatively small-scale works, Handel’s zip and finesse make them a joy and the performances here come close to perfection. In a word, bliss! Graham LockThe most prolifically tuneful of Handel’s early works, Apollo e Dafne is forty minutes of flowing melodic invention. Completed in Hanover around 1710, soon after his return from Venice, the cantata displays the fruits of Handel’s years in Italy, with its graceful arias, variety of instrumental colour (flute, oboe, bassoon, cello and violin are featured) and a mythological subject taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The chaste nymph Dafne is transformed into a tree to save her from the unwelcome advances of the god Apollo. Handel’s music suggests that Apollo too is changed, the strutting vainglory of ‘Spezza l’arco e getta l’armi’ giving way to the regretful ‘Cara pianta, co’miei pianti’. Michael George and Nancy Argenta sing superbly, realising both the music’s limpid sensuality and its dramatic frissons, while Collegium Musicum 90 provide elegant, spirited support.
The solo cantata Crudel tiranno Amor, composed in London around 1721, comprises three delightful arias. Nancy Argenta’s singing is again beautiful and affecting, especially in ‘O dolce mia speranza’, with its heart-rending vocal line and echoing violin. Though both cantatas are relatively small-scale works, Handel’s zip and finesse make them a joy and the performances here come close to perfection. In a word, bliss! Graham Lock