Handel: Opera Arias (villazon)

Rolando Villazon - Tenor, Gabrieli Players, Paul McCreesh - Conductor

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759): Tamerlano - Ciel e terra armi di sdegno; Rodelinda - Fatto inferno / Pastorello d'un povero armento / Oh, perme lieto / Fremi, minaccia / Figlia mia / Tu, spietato, il vedrai; Serse - Frondi tenere / Ombra mai fù / Più che penso alle fiamme del core / Crude furie degl' orridi; Ariodante - Scherza infida in grembo al drudo / Dopo notte, atra e funesta; La Resurrezione - Così la tortorella / Caro Figlio!

Gramophone Editor's Choice - May 2009
Villazón and Handel - a surprising musical coupling: vital, passionate, idiomatic!
For those who associate Rolando Villazón with the lyric tenor heroes of 19th-century operas - and who doesn't? - the notion of him singing Handel may come as a bit of a shock. Since when has the 36-year-old Mexican been interested in early 18th-century music? "I can tell you exactly", he replies. "I was in Paris, at the start of my career, and I bought a CD of Cecilia Bartoli singing Vivaldi. I became obsessed by it. So did my wife. Any excuse - if we had something to celebrate, or needed cheering up - and we would listen to it over and over again. Of course, that was BC: before children! Ever since then I have sought out recordings of Baroque music. And I dreamed of singing it myself, although I knew that the way I was singing at that time didn't suit this repertoire."

Price: $15.98