It takes a spectacular female voice to do justice to the soprano arias of Italian opera of the early eighteenth century, for this music, of which the arias by Handel and Johann Adolf Hasse recorded here offer quintessential examples, was the domain of the castrato, the surgically castrated male singer who had the power of male musculature but the range of a soprano. Fortunately, mezzo soprano Vivica Genaux, a native of Fairbanks, AK, has everything it takes to fill the shoes of the castrati. She has dramatic presence. She ...
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It takes a spectacular female voice to do justice to the soprano arias of Italian opera of the early eighteenth century, for this music, of which the arias by Handel and Johann Adolf Hasse recorded here offer quintessential examples, was the domain of the castrato, the surgically castrated male singer who had the power of male musculature but the range of a soprano. Fortunately, mezzo soprano Vivica Genaux, a native of Fairbanks, AK, has everything it takes to fill the shoes of the castrati. She has dramatic presence. She has a top range of awesome clarity and rhythmic vigor. Her low notes are shiver-inducing growls and pitch-perfect imprecations, and she jumps between segments of her range with the precision of a ballet dancer. Genaux's agility is especially important when it comes to the Handel arias, which are virtuosic not just in the sense of being showpieces but also because they often demand that the singer subject herself to lines that come out difficult for essentially musical reasons. Some...
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Add this copy of Vivica Genaux-Handel & Hasse Opera Arias to cart. $8.48, like new condition, Sold by Streetlight_Records rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Cruz, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Erato.
Add this copy of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and Johann Adolf to cart. $25.00, Sold by Basileia Liturgy and Music rated 1.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Andover, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Virgin Classics: 7243 5 45737 2 9.
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