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“Budding singers, composers, conductors and producers everywhere take note: this is how it’s done.” Classic FM Magazine
Handel Arias, with Rolando Villazón
Rolando Villazón (tenor)
Gabrieli Players
Paul McCreesh (conductor)
For the first time Rolando Villazón sings some of Handel’s greatest opera scenes, including his finest tenor solos – Bazajet’s arias from Tamerlano – plus the immortal ‘Ombra mai fu’ from Serse, aided by the period music specialist Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli Players.
Excerpt: “Serse”, Act I: “Più Che Penso Alle Fiamme Del Core”
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“This is splendidly clean singing … Completely persuasive as Grimoaldo (Rodelinda) and San Giovanni (Resurrezione), he provides even finer, indeed devastating in Bajazet’s death scene (Tamerlano)… Under McCreesh’s authoritative leadership, the Gabrieli Players perform immaculately…”International Record Review
“There’s plenty to enjoy, not least that silky, muscular voice and the little quarter-tone grace-notes he can’t help inserting: a different tenor sound from what we are used to — more butch and baritonal . . . McCreesh and the Gabrielis play it, as ever, with total commitment and a real, driven verve.”Opera No
“With the specialist authentic group the Gabrieli Players under Paul McCreesh backing him up, Villazón braves some of Handel’s most famous arias — many of them with elaborate accompanied recitatives attached. About half weren’t even written for tenor but for a castrato. Purists might blanch, but even the hardest-core might be won over by the Mexican star’s beautiful enunciation, tasteful decoration and poetic shadings.”Dallas Morning News
Deutsche Grammophon
GH 4778056
March 2009