G. F HANDEL Il duello amoroso - Italian Cantatas

 

Amarilli Vezzosa HWV 82*,

Nel dolce tempo HWV 135b,

Mi palpita il cor HWV 132c,

Vedendo amor HWV 175,Trio Sonata Op.5 No. 2

 

Andreas Scholl (countertenor)

Hélène Guilmette (soprano*)

Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone

 

Eight years after his first Handel recital, Ombra mai fù HMC901685, Andreas Scholl now turns his talents to Handel’s early chamber cantatas. The splendid Il duello amoroso offers the countertenor a chance to duet with young French-Canadian soprano Hélène Guilmette.

Andreas Scholl is possibly the most famous countertenor in the world. In 1998, his operatic debut at Glyndebourne in Handel's Rodelinda won unprecedented praise from the British press. His appearance on the Last Night of the Proms 2005 awakened an entirely new audience to the countertenor phenomenon and sales of his 3CD 'essential' set hit the best-seller lists that Christmas. He made his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2006 and the same year won the Singer of the Year Award at the Classical Brits. Also in 2006,Andreas Scholl sang the title role in Handel's Giulio Cesare at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and in Rome. This will later be released on a harmonia mundi DVD.

He has recently performed a series of concerts with the Accademia Bizantina and Ottavio Dantone, which took him from Madrid to Rotterdam via Maastricht, London, Frankfurt and Copenhagen. Future appearances include Robert Wilson's staging of Bach's St John Passion at the Châtelet in the spring of 2007. The soloists of the Accademia Bizantina, all natives of the Italian peninsula, were founded in Ravenna in 1983. They are directed by Ottavio Dantone, musical director since 1996, who brings expertise in historically informed performance, leading to its position as one of today's finest Baroque groups.

 

Harmonia Mundi HMC901957