Bertini, Cavina, La Venexiana - Handel: 10 Italian Duets (2002)

Composed in three different moments (in Italy, Hanover and London), these delicious duets contain a lot of music that Handel later reused in great works like The Messiah, The Passion of Brockers, Solomon, Jubilate de Chandos, Alcina, Aquatic Music, Esther, Belshazzar , Judas Macabeo, Deborah or the Jubilate of Utrecht, to name a few. Technically very difficult, these jewels contain movements of great beauty and passages of enormous virtuosity that demonstrate not only the brilliance of Handel's vocal writing, but its insurmountable melodic sense and musical imagery. Rossana Bertini and Claudio Cavina, founders of Concerto Italiano, demonstrate the reason why they are considered among the most important specialists in baroque singing. With their extraordinary technique, they will rediscover this repertoire to those who already knew it. Their natural understanding of the details of the text allows them to offer a totally different reading of these, sometimes fierce, sometimes exciting and extremely beautiful duets. For those who think that these works "could only be played with instruments without losing much of their musical interest", the surprise will be even greater. For the first time, the Italian duets of Handel are sung with flexible tempi, carefully used dynamics and a logical understanding of the meaning and the expressive possibilities of the text, so that we are before deeply felt interpretations of these great works. The important emotional versatility of these wonderful duets is revealed in this recording, and the result is breathtaking.