Track Listing

1. Serse (Xerxes), opera, HWV 40: Frondi tenere
2. Serse (Xerxes), opera, HWV 40: Ombra mai fù
3. Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17: Va Tacito e nascosto
4. Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17: Al lampo dell' armi
5. Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17: Dall' ondoso periglio
6. Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17: Aure, deh, per pietà
7. Tamerlano, opera, HWV 18: A dispetto
8. Ariodante, opera, HWV 33: Scherza infida
9. Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17: Cara speme
10. Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17: L'angue offeso
11. Rodelinda, regina de' Langobardi, opera, HWV 19: Pompe vane di morte
12. Rodelinda, regina de' Langobardi, opera, HWV 19: Dove sei, amato bene?
13. Rodelinda, regina de' Langobardi, opera, HWV 19: Vivi, tiramo
14. Rinaldo, opera, HWV 7: Cara sposa, amante cara
15. Rinaldo, opera, HWV 7: Venti, turbini

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #85118 in Music
• Released on: 1998-12-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
David Daniels seems to be the current leader of the opera world's March of the Falsettos--and with good reason: he's one of the first countertenors with enough beef in his voice to sound convincing in the heroic castrato roles of Handel's operas. His first solo disc is a collection of arias from just those roles--and an impressive debut it is. Daniels has the solid coloratura technique a Handel singer needs and a quick, narrow vibrato that can blend with Baroque instruments without alienating traditional opera buffs. (In fact, he sometimes sounds surprisingly like Marilyn Horne, one of his coaches.) Best of all, he has a musicality and dramatic sense that save the laments and slow serenades from dullness and the bravura showpieces from empty virtuoso display. The performances aren't flawless: Norrington's tempos are occasionally too quick for comfort (Daniels's and the listener's), and Daniels's vibrato sometimes spreads unattractively at the top of his range. He's at his best in the low alto roles that Handel wrote for the great castrato Il Senesino, such as the title roles in Giulio Cesare and Orlando. Let's hope we get to hear him in complete recordings of these operas soon. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews

A Truly Great Singer
Bowman has much too much of the flat English edge to his voice & Scholl is good, if not memorable. Asawa is, indeed, very good, but David Daniels is a truly great singer. His musicianship, technical mastery of the genre & sheer beauty of tone leaves one wanting more. I can only say further, that I look forward, with great anticipation, to his pairing with the exquisite soprano of Bejun Mehta in Giulio Cesare in Los Angeles in February of 2001 & to the release of his newly recorded Rinaldo.

This voice is very special
I first heard Daniels at a performance of Messiah in DC. I ran backstage afterwards to meet this truly exceptional alto who had brought tears to my eyes with his performance. I was also fortunate enough to hear his DC recital and see him in Giulio Cesare at the Met, so I am comfortable in saying that he sounds as good in person as he does on this recording. It is rare for a male alto to be able to bring such expressiveness to his performances. His technique is secure and his singing of, for example, "scherza infida" is simply exceptional. I hope that we get an opportunity to hear him on some full-length operas very soon.

Stellar Performance and a Sign of the Greatness to Come
It is hard to imagine that there could be a finer recital disc of Handel's arias than this one reflecting the exquisite taste and powerful talent of David Daniels...unless of course, you count his splendid follow-up disc of Handel's lesser known oratorio arias released in 2002 (also strongly recommended). But the focus in this 1998 release is the rich music within six of Handel's best-known operas. Now nearly six years after its release, this recording not only holds up beautifully as an introduction to his prodigious talent, but also demonstrates his keen sense of adventure when his voice was at its most pure and unfettered.

Daniels' coloratura technique is amazingly seasoned even at this point of his career, and he approaches each aria in a singular fashion with that incredibly flexible legato that is literally breathtaking. Compare the impressive runs he employs on his rendition of "A dispitto" from "Tamerlano" to his seductive and sonorous tones on "Aure, deh, per pietà" from "Giulio Cesare in Egritto", and you get an idea of the range of emotion and technique of which Daniels is capable. Listening to the two arias from "Rodelinda" will make you recognize how over the course of twelve minutes, he has shown the two distinct sides of Bertarido - the mournful, dejected husband who goes unrecognized in "Pompe van di morte...Dove Sei?" and his enemy's savior at the end with "Vivi, tiranno".

The two arias from "Rinaldo", are also beautifully performed. Six years later, one can appreciate these versions within the context of Daniels' career, as he later recorded the title role in the famous 2000 recital recording of the opera with Cecilia Bartoli and yet again in the 2001 David Alden staging of the opera captured recently on DVD. I recommend getting your hands on all three and comparing the performances, as all are wonderful but quite different. Personally I think his voice ripened to just the right timbre in the Alden-staged version, especially during the opera's centerpiece, "Cara sposa, amante cara". Of all the stellar selections, it is really difficult to pick just one as a favorite, but his version of "E vivo ancora....Scherza infida" from "Ariodante" is especially moving in the way he sings of his plight in being humiliated by an unfaithful woman. Written for a castrato named Carestini in 1735, it is a sublime piece made all the more moving by the warm, round tones Daniels brings to it.

Sir Roger Norrington and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment provide able accompaniment on period instruments, never intrusive or jarring to the ears. It is easy to tell from this recording why Daniels received so much hype for bringing the countertenor voice to the mainstream and why his career has been so meteoric since the release of this disc. Now you can see that it was more than hype...David Daniels is the real thing.