Handel: Giulio Cesare

Album cover art for upc 794881848690
Label: harmonia mundi
Catalog: 9909008/09
Format: DVD

Andreas Scholl: Giulio Cesare; Iinger Dam-Jensen: Cleopatra; Randi Steene: Corenlia; Tuva Semmingsen: Sesto; Christopher Robson: Tolomeo; John Lungren: Curio; Palle Knudsen: Achilla; Michael Maniaci: Nireno; Concerto Copenhagen; Conductor: Lars Ulrik Mortensen

Here is what is probably Handel's most accomplished opera: the heir to 'L'incoronazione di Poppea' with respect to the villainy of some of its characters, but also the Baroque ancestor of certain Romantic operas!
Scrupulously based on historical characters, this work illustrates many different facets of the human soul, and also boasts perhaps the most sumptuous orchestral textures Handel ever conceived, magnificently brought out by Lars Ulrik Mortensen in this production from the Copenhagen Opera. Francisco Negrin's transposition of the opera to the universe of modern war and Anthony Baker's refined design place Andreas Scholl (Giulio Cesare) and the other soloists in an unsettling atmosphere that is highly contemporary.

Price: $39.98