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Handel: Tamerlano/Moriarty

Robert Levine

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

For those who need a plot summary, I quote from my own review of Avie’s recent release of this opera: “Absolute ruler Tamerlano has conquered and taken the Turkish Emperor Bajazet captive. Despite his engagement to Irene, Tamerlano loves Bajazet’s daughter Asteria; Andronicus, his Greek ally, loves her too and Asteria returns Andronicus’ love. Although it appears as if Asteria also has accepted Tamerlano’s love (to the horror of Bajazet, Andronicus, and Irene), in fact she plans to kill him. She and her father are condemned to death when her plot is discovered, but Bajazet commits suicide and in a last-minute change of heart, Tamerlano allows Andronicus and Asteria to wed, while he takes Irene as his bride.”

In other words, this is an opera of feelings, and it’s one of Handel’s most successful. This recording, made in 1970, turns out to be quite a gem. Instruments are not period and some tempos are what is now considered strangely lagging, but there’s drama a-plenty, some wonderful singing, crisp playing (by the “Chamber Orchestra of Copenhagen”–you wonder where they are now), and interesting embellishing of da capo sections.

Of all the recorded Tamerlanos, mezzo Gwendolyn Killibrew here turns out to be the most effective. Her voice is very dusky and masculine, and while her delivery may not be as accurate as Monica Bacelli’s on Avie, her sound is more suitable in general and she has the necessary venom in her voice to convince. Carole Bogard turns out to be the best Asteria on disc as well; she’s lovely in her devotion to her father and determination to thwart Tamerlano, and the voice itself is very appealing. Sophia Steffan, a mezzo who to my knowledge never was heard from again, is a fine Andronicus, but a countertenor still is preferable in the role. Joanna Simon’s Irene is well-sung and Marius Rintzler makes what he can of Leone. Alexander Young’s Bajazet, the opera’s emotional center, is terrific–angry, proud, and vocally definitely on the same level as the excellent Tom Randle (Avie) and less forced than Derek Lee Ragin (with John Eliot Gardiner).

This set presents more of the opera than any other (Gardiner’s is brutally cut), and the three CDs sell for the price of two. The sound is a bit cavernous and the characters tend to move around in mid-aria (different takes, I assume), but these are minor quibbles. This may just beat out Avie’s for top place among recorded versions of this work.


Recording Details:

Reference Recording: None

GEORGE FREDERIC HANDEL - Tamerlano

  • Record Label: Parnassus - 96038/40
  • Medium: CD

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