BaL 10.12.11 - Handel's Julius Caesar

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 Building a Library: Sarah Lenton with with a personal recommendation from the available recordings of Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto

[I]Available versions:[/I]

Beverly Sills: Soprano (Cleopatra), Beverly Wolff: Mezzo-Soprano (Sextus), Maureen Forrester: Contralto (Cornelia), William Beck: Baritone (Curio), Dominic Cossa: Baritone (Achillas), Norman Treigle: Bass Baritone (Julius Caesar), Michael Devlin: Bass Baritone (Nirenus), Spiro Malas: Bass (Ptolemy), Eugenia Earle & Julius Rudel: Harpsichord
New York City Opera Orchestra & New York City Opera Chorus, Julius Rudel

Martine Dupuy (Cesare), Patrizia Orciani (Cleopatra), Josella Ligi (Sesto), Raquel Pierotti (Cornelia), Susanna Anselmi (Tolomeo), Giuseppe de Matteis (Curio), Pietro Spagnoli (Achilla), Sara Mingardo (Nireno)
Orchestra Pro Arte Bassano, Marcello Panni

Walter Berry (Giulio Cesare), Lucia Popp (Cleopatra), Christa Ludwig (Cornelia), Fritz Wunderlich (Sesto), Karl Christian Kohn (Tolomeo), Hans Günther Nöcker (Achilla), Hans Bruno Ernst (Curio), Max Proebstl (Nireno)
Münchner Philharmoniker, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Ferdinand Leitner (sung in German)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Giulio Cesare), Tatiana Troyanos (Cleopatra), Júlia Hamari (Cornelia), Peter Schreier (Sesto), Franz Crass (Tolomeo), Ernst Gerold Schramm (Achilla), Wolfgang Schöne (Curio), Michael Schopper (Nireno)
Münchener Bach-Chor & Münchener Bach-Orchester, Karl Richter

Kristina Hammarström (Cesare), Emanuela Galli (Cleopatra), Mary-Ellen Nesi (Sesto), Irini Karaianni (Cornelia), Romina Basso (Tolomeo), Tassis Christoyannis (Achilla), Petros Magoulas (Curio), Nikos Spanatis (Nireno)
Orchestra of the Patras (period instruments), George Petrou

Marijana Mijanovic (Giulio Cesare), Magdalena Kožená (Cleopatra), Anne Sofie von Otter (Sesto), Charlotte Hellekant (Cornelia), Bejun Mehta (Tolomeo), Alan Ewing (Achilla)
Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski

Dame Janet Baker (Julius Caesar), Valerie Masterson (Cleopatra), Della Jones (Sextus), Sarah Walker (Cornelia), James Bowman (Ptolemy), John Tomlinson (Achillas), Christopher Booth-Jones (Curio), David James (Nirenus)
English National Opera Orchestra, English National Opera Chorus, Sir Charles Mackerras

Jennifer Larmore (Giulio Cesare); Barbara Schlick (Cleopatra); Bernarda Fink (Cornelia); Marianne Rørholm (Sesto); Derek Lee Ragin (Tolomeo); Furio Zanasi (Achilla); Dominique Visse (Nireno) & Olivier Lallouette (Curio)
Concerto Köln, René Jacobs

Kostas Paskalis (Giulio Cesare), Montserrat Caballé (Cleopatra), Huguette Tourangeau (Cornelia), Frederic Mayer (Sesto), Amin Feres (Tolomeo)
American Opera Society Orchestra, Arnold Gamson

Yvonne Kenny (Cleopatra), Graham Pushee (Giulio Cesare), Andrew Dalton (Tolomeo), Elizabeth Campbell (Sesto), Rosemary Gunn (Cornelia), Stephen Bennett (Achilla), Richard Alexander (Curio), Rodney Gilchrist (Nireno)
Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra, Richard Hickox (DVD)

Janet Baker (Giulio Cesare), Valerie Masterson (Cleopatra), Sarah Walker (Cornelia), Della Jones (Sesto), James Bowman (Tolomeo), John Tomlinson (Achilla)
Orchestra and Chorus of the English National Opera, Charles Mackerras, stage direction by John Copley (sung in English) (DVD)

Flavio Oliver (Cesare), Elena de la Merced (Cleopatra), Ewa Podles (Cornelia), Maite Beaumont (Sesto), Jordi Domènech (Tolomeo)
Orquestra Simfónica i Cor del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Michael Hofstetter, stage direction by Herbert Wernicke (DVD)

Andreas Scholl (Giulio Cesare), Inger Dam-Jensen (Cleopatra), Randi Steene (Cornelia), Tuva Semmingsen (Sesto), Christopher Robson (Tolomeo), Palle Knudsen (Achilla) & James Huw Jeffries (Nireno)
Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (DVD)

Jeffrey Gall (Giulio Cesare), Susan Larson (Cleopatra), Mary Westbrook-Geha (Cornelia), Lorraine Hunt (Sesto), James Maddalena (Achilla), Drew Minter (Tolomeo), Cheryl Cobb (Nirena) & Herman Hildebrand (Curio)
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Craig Smith (DVD)

Hans Hotter (Giulio Cesare), Walter Geisler (Sesto), Dagmar Herrmann (Cornelia), Rudolf Bockelmann (Achilla), Walburga Wegner (Cleopatra), Sigmund Roth (Tolomeo) & Carl Bay (Nireno, Curio)
Hamburg Radio, Hans-Schmidt Isserstedt (sung in German)

Sarah Connolly (Cesare), Danielle de Niese (Cleopatra), Angelika Kirchschlager (Sesto), Christophe Dumaux (Tolomeo), Patricia Bardon (Cornelia), Christopher Maltman (Achilla) & Rachid Ben Abdeslam (Nireno)
The Glyndebourne Chorus & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, William Christie (conductor) & David McVicar (stage director) (Blu Ray and DVD)

[Caliban]

Going to enjoy this. I only own the Jacobs set.

Have we heard from Sarah Lenton before? Wonder who she is.... Quick search shows her writing books, programme notes about opera.

[aeolium]

I'm looking forward to this too, as I love this work. Is it likely that much attention will be paid to the older performances, given that period instruments are pretty much de rigeur for Handel nowadays (unlike, e.g. for Beethoven symphonies)? It will be a shame if there are not excerpts from some of those older versions - especially for instance that Leitner version with what sounds like a stunning cast (though sung in German). I'm sure the well-known ENO/Mackerras recording will get a few mentions, though the fact that it is sung in English may well prove a drawback for many.

Incidentally, did Wunderlich sing any Handel in Italian - I have a recording of Xerxes taken from a live performance in which he sang, and again it is in German?

[Caliban]

I made myself a minidisc (back in the day!!) and then an iPod playlist of all Cleopatra's arias from the Jacobs set - it made a great emotional sequence, some of Handel's best stuff I think Always thought it would make a great showpiece album for the right soprano.

Then someone else had the same idea... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Natalie-Dess...2827310&sr=1-1 Keep meaning to try it, anyone own this??

[aeolium]

Cleopatra's "Se pietà di me non senti" is for me one of Handel's most wonderful arias - those plangent bassoons are so effective (and affecting).

But there are many other glorious arias in this work apart from Cleopatra's - Caesar's "Va tacito e nascosto" for instance.

When I saw the filmed version of the Glyndebourne production at a cinema shortly after its release, the 4+ hours just flew by and I came out completely drained. Tremendous stuff.

[Biffo]

I recall the Richter version (wth DF-D in the title role) was described by Gramophone as a 'dark-brown mudbath' as so many high roles had been transposed downwards. The DG set 'The Art of Fritz Wunderlich' contains seven Handel numbers (4 from Serse and 3 from Giulio Cesare) all sung in German.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Going to enjoy this. I only own the Jacobs set.

Have we heard from Sarah Lenton before? Wonder who she is.... Quick search shows her writing books, programme notes about opera.

I've often seen her at the ROH, usually contributing to Insight Evenings. Her style - unfussy, laid back, humorous - came across well in this discussion and, as a discussion, was enjoyable in its own right. However, even with an extended running time, there wasn't as much comparison between different singers in the roles as would have been possible with a traditional 'solo' BaL. I thought the Minkowski recording got short shrift, which is a pity, and am surprised the McVicar production at Glyndebourne didn't seem as well rated, as it's as near to a perfect production of anything I've ever seen!

[Caliban]

It was an enjoyable enough discussion about the piece, but it was all a bit scattergun as a guide to what versions are out there and as a demonstration of the relative merits of the performers. "Bit of a shambles" would be an uncharitable way of putting it... Rather too much time spent making jokey comments about the silliness of the plot or of various productions, which I'd have preferred being spent on a slightly more considered 'Building a Library' approach. Wasn't too encouraged at Ms Lenton's ability to tell me something I didn't know when she said "... then the tempi suddenly drops..."

However, good to hear the Mackerras version given full value and not dismissed for dogmatic HIPP reasons, and it has made me curious to see the Copenhagen production (though the audio sounded as if it had been recorded in the 50s, and not very well, I thought).

On a personal note, IGI, I was glad that the Glyndebourne production wasn't raved about - I didn't see it in the theatre, but based on the DVD I found myself allergic to all the quirky, camp glam of it (I have an odd aversion to Sarah Connolly, completely irrational, and Danielle De Niese seemed to me to be a vastly over-rated diva). But all that's just my problem!!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I saw a Connolly/ de Niese performance live (my only visit to Glyndebourne - not the first time round, but a revival with much the same cast apart from Sesto and Achilla) and was completely wowed. It was truly entertaining and the 4+ hours raced by. I think the spirit of that production is captured well on the DVD.

I agree about the Copenhagen sound, which didn't encourage me to investigate further. I'd like to have heard more of the MDG/ Petrou recording, which I recall Hugh Canning giving a very positive review to in IRR, apart from one particular blip in terms of one of Cleo's arias.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I enjoyed the programme and Ms Lenton's presentation very much. But then I don't know more than the odd aria from this opera, and probably won't buy any complete version. She obviously had an unusually difficult task with so many permutations of male and female soloists in the same role, transpositions, etc, even before we get to - it seems - hugely different directorial decisions on DVD.

With Handelian opera's slow-moving static stage-pictures, and general lack of dramatic propulsion from the music itself, do boarders prefer to concentrate on the 'abstract' mucsical qualities via CD, or prefer having something to look at on DVD?

In general I'm a 'better pictures in my head' man and buy far more opera CDs than DVDs. But the strings of long da capo arias in Handel's Rinaldo the other night (GTO's production seen in Plymouth: the first complete Handel opera I've seen - live, TV or video) made me think that the mad stage pictures of this production did make the evening pass faster!