| Lancette Arts Journal Founded in 2000 |
CD Reviews From our Archives |
January 2006 |
Faustina Bordoni - Faces of a Prima Donna,
Arion Baroque Orchestra,
Monica Huggett, Kimberly Barber,
CBC Records, 67:19 minutes, MVCD 1172
Baroque Music by Hasse and
Handel
for those who enjoy baroque performances
By Alidė Kohlhaas
There is an upsurge in the interest in baroque music that has almost taken on the feeling of a fashionable cult movement. Among the followers of this music are the purists, who insist on using only baroque instruments; this makes one wonder why they don't also insist on castrati. Of course, these days, musical training makes it unnecessary to castrate boys to retain their high voices into adulthood. Instead we have well-trained counter tenors, who are able to sing all of those high notes and ornamentations in the baroque repertoire. One mentions this because many lovers of baroque music do not realize that the baroque period produced plenty of female singers, who equaled the voice quality of castrati. Handel, for one, preferred to let women sing his roles.
One CD, produced by CBC Records, addresses one such female singer, Faustina Bordoni. She captured the imagination of Londoners after her arrival there in 1726 from the Continent. Handel wrote five roles for her in the two years she remained there before returning to Italy. In 1730 she married the German composer Johann Adolf Hasse, who wrote all of his female leading roles for his wife.
Faustian Bordoni - Faces of a Prima Donna, with music by Handel and Hasse and performed by the Arion Baroque Orchestra under guest conductor Monica Huggett, takes us to a musical period very different from ours. Mezzo-soprano Kimberly Barber, who is well known . . .
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