Emma Bell, Richard Egarr - Handel: Operatic Arias (2005) CD-Rip

Handel: Operatic Arias sees soprano Emma Bell perform with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, directed from the harpsichord by Richard Egarr, in her second recital disc for Linn. Originally released in 2005 Handel: Operatic Arias has been re-issued as part of Linns ECHO series which offers a second chance to enjoy the best of the labels award-winning catalogue. Emma Bell rose to fame when she took over the title role in Handel's Rodelinda at five hours' notice for Glyndebourne on Tour in 1998 while still a student at the London Opera Centre; Bells delivery of that heart-piercing aria, Se'l mio duol, a highlight of her performance, is included here. Early performances as Tigrane in Radamisto and Almirena in Rinaldo, as well as that unforgettable Rodelinda, make it very fitting that Bells first operatic recital disc should be devoted to Handel. The well-chosen extracts sample the whole of Handel's London operatic career, from his first (Rinaldo, 1711) to his last (Deidamia, 1741), and demonstrate his (and the singer's) wide range of moods, from defiance to resignation, from love to the wilder shores of hatred. Emma Bell trained at the Royal Academy of Music, London and the National Opera Studio and currently studies with Joy Mammen. She was the winner of the 1998 Kathleen Ferrier Award and the following year was a BBC New Generation Artist. Highlights this season and beyond include roles at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Metropolitan Opera, New York; Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires and, in concert, Leonore Fidelio at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam where she will also sing Strauss Vier letzte Lieder. This season she also made her house debuts at Zurich Opera singing Eva Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Hamburg State Opera singing Elsa Lohengrin.