Here is an opportunity to acquire at bargain price six of Handel’s operas covering the entire range of his operatic career, from Rodrigo, written for Florence in 1707, to Deidamia, his final Italian opera, produced at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London in 1741. Other landmarks include Radamisto (1720), the first of the Royal Academy operas and probably the best known of the works recorded here (with Joyce DiDonato in fine voice in the title role), and Admeto, re di Tessaglia (husband of the self-sacrificing Alcestis), a ‘rival queens’ opera shortly to be staged in this year’s Festival. The set commemorates two anniversaries: the 250th of Handel’s death in 1759, and the thirtieth of the founding of Il Complesso Barocco, the performers assembled in Amsterdam by American musicologist Alan Curtis in 1979, although the earliest of these recordings, Admeto, was made two years earlier. Admeto’s cast list is a blast from the past, with René Jacobs in the countertenor title role, Rachel Yakar as Alcestis, and Jill Gomez and James Bowman in supporting roles. Some of the stylistic features are a little dated by comparison with the more recent recordings, but this if anything adds to the interest. The other recordings range from 1997 (Rodrigo) to 2005 (Fernando). Most of them are of lesser known works, and the great discovery for me has been Deidamia, the final work and one of a number that are more intimate and lightly scored (others include Flavio and Imeneo). The soprano Simone Kermes sings with much beauty the title role of the princess who loves Achilles on Scyros and has to part from him when he is summoned to his destiny at Troy. The supporting cast includes Anna Bonitatibus (oh for a name like that) as Ulisse, a strong presence despite Winton Dean’s strange comment that he ‘is allowed no opportunity to demonstrate anything beyond diplomacy and craftiness’ (not true: we are reminded of his love for Penelope, and in any case are these characteristics not the essence of Ulysses?). Full documentation is provided in PDF files on an extra CD-ROM. These discs represent the whole of Curtis’s Handel output to date for Virgin. Perhaps Universal will match them with a similar collection of his Archiv recordings, among them more celebrated works such as Rodelinda and (most recently) Alcina. Meanwhile, snap up this Virgin set while you can.

Reviewed by Robert Allen