Handel 'Le cantate peril Cardinal Pamphili' 11 delirio amoroso, 'Da quel giomo fatale', HW\T99. Pensieri nomarni di Filli, 'Ne! dolce dell'oblio', HW\Jl34. Tra le fiamme il consiglio, HVVV17O. Figlio d'alte speranze, H1.VV1 13

Roberta Invernizzi sop

La Risonanza / Fabio Bonizzoni hpd Glossa ® GCD921521 (66' • DDD • Tit) This splendid disc raises performance of Handel's cantatas to a new level Although titled "Le cantate per il Cardinal Pamphili", only two of the four works on this disc were composed for Pamphili. But let's not be too pedantic: it launches La Risonanza's p., 5 1 ambitious project to record all of Handel's Italian cantatas that feature a band of instruments (the huge - amount of utterly neglected cantatas for solo voice accompanied only by continuo are not to be included). Fabio Bonizzoni's lightly articulated yet rapid whirl through the opening of Tra lefiamme is utterly unlike any of the pastoral-tinged performances hitherto known to me but it perfectly conveys the imagery of a moth fatally attracted to the flame.

Roberta Invernizzi is an impassioned (and, of course, resolutely Italianate) interpreter who brings the dramatic sentiments of the poetry fully to life, while also delivering inch-perfect coloratura and stylish phrasing. Her blend of spectacular singing and emotional substance in "Un pensiero voli in ciel" (Delirio amoroso) is possibly the most satisfying interpretation on disc.

Ellen Harris's suberb booklet essay is a mixture of compelling historical facts and entertaining speculation. The conclusion that "now it is finally possible to bring these remarkable works out of Handel's workroom and give them their long-overdue hearing" is a distortion: each cantata has been recorded before and lldelirio amoroso and Tra kfiamme have had plenty of splendid advocates on disc. Yet the programme's coherence, Invernizzi's authoritative singing and La Risonanza's theatrically coloured playing have raised the performance standard for Handel's Italian cantatas. Bonizzoni's refreshing direction is entirely devoid of the coolly dispatched detachment or mannered feyness often found in this repertoire. This lovingly prepared series promises to be of the utmost importance to Handel lovers. David Vickers