Handel
by Hugh Canning
Sunday Times (London)
May 29, 2005, Sunday
HANDEL. Partenope. Early Opera Company, cond Christian Curnyn.
Chandos Chaconne CHAN0719 3 (3 CDs) ****
This opera, unveiled at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, in 1730, was
one of the first by Handel to enjoy a stylish, “historically
informed” performance on disc, with countertenors in the
alto-castrato and travesty parts and period instruments in the
orchestra. Even if it doesn’t make it into the top 10 of Handel’s
“serious” operas, this witty, ironic account of the amorous exploits
of the founding queen of Naples (Partenope) has hardly a dull moment.
Here, to a libretto written for Naples by Silvio Stampiglia, we find
Handel experimenting with the lighter-hearted style that was to
culminate in his 1738 masterpiece, Serse (Xerxes). Partenope and her
preferred lover, Arsace, sing music of rapt beauty and dazzling
bravura, while the part of the Cypriot princess Rosmira, disguised as
the Armenian prince Eurimene, has a show-stopping “hunting” number
with obbligato horns. These parts are superbly sung by Rosemary
Joshua (above), Lawrence Zazzo and Hilary Summers respectively, and
Kurt Streit is a fine Emilio. The cast has no weak links, and Curnyn
directs a performance devoid of the mannerisms and quirks of some Handelians.