Arias for Guadagni
Davies adopts the persona of a Handel-tamed castrato
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Thomas (Augustine) Arne, Gaetano Guadagni, Christoph Gluck, Johann (Adolph) Hasse, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, George Frideric Handel, John Christopher Smith
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 08/2012
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 78
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA67924
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Saul, Movement: O Lord, whose mercies |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Arcangelo George Frideric Handel, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Theodora, Movement: ~ |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Arcangelo George Frideric Handel, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
(The) Choice of Hercules, Movement: Yet can I hear that dulcet lay |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Arcangelo George Frideric Handel, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Belshazzar, Movement: ~ |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Arcangelo George Frideric Handel, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Didone Abbandonata, Movement: Ah che dissi, infelice! |
Johann (Adolph) Hasse, Composer
Arcangelo Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Johann (Adolph) Hasse, Composer Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Didone Abbandonata, Movement: Se resto sul lido |
Johann (Adolph) Hasse, Composer
Arcangelo Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Johann (Adolph) Hasse, Composer Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Didone Abbandonata, Movement: Odi colà la frigia tromba? |
Johann (Adolph) Hasse, Composer
Arcangelo Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Johann (Adolph) Hasse, Composer Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Didone Abbandonata, Movement: A trionfar mi chiama |
Johann (Adolph) Hasse, Composer
Arcangelo Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Johann (Adolph) Hasse, Composer Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
(The) Fairies, Movement: Say, lovely Dream! |
John Christopher Smith, Composer
Arcangelo Iestyn Davies, Countertenor John Christopher Smith, Composer Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Alfred, Movement: Vengeance, O come inspire me! |
Thomas (Augustine) Arne, Composer
Arcangelo Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano Thomas (Augustine) Arne, Composer |
(4) Sinfonias, Movement: D |
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Composer
Arcangelo Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Telemaco, or L'isola di Circe, Movement: Ah Non turbi |
Christoph Gluck, Composer
Arcangelo Christoph Gluck, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Orfeo ed Euridice, Movement: Ballet in D minor (Dance of the Blessed Spirits): (flute solo) |
Christoph Gluck, Composer
Arcangelo Christoph Gluck, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Orfeo ed Euridice, Movement: Che puro ciel! |
Christoph Gluck, Composer
Arcangelo Christoph Gluck, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Orfeo ed Euridice, Movement: Ahimè! Dove trascorsi? |
Christoph Gluck, Composer
Arcangelo Christoph Gluck, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Orfeo ed Euridice, Movement: Che faro' senza Euridice? |
Christoph Gluck, Composer
Arcangelo Christoph Gluck, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Ezio |
Gaetano Guadagni, Composer
Arcangelo Gaetano Guadagni, Composer Iestyn Davies, Countertenor Jonathan Cohen, Piano |
Author: Richard Wigmore
Guadagni’s calling card in later life was Orfeo, a role Gluck and his librettist Calzabigi carefully tailored to his unique gifts. As Burney noted, he invariably drew applause for his ‘impassioned and exquisite manner of singing the simple and ballad-like air “Che farò”’. The same epithets could apply to Iestyn Davies’s singing. His strong yet pure countertenor has no hint of the hootiness or epicene prissiness that often affect his breed. He phrases with natural eloquence, unexaggeratedly alive to the meaning and colour of words. Crucially, too, he never forces his high notes. The climax of ‘Che farò’ is all the more touching for its restraint.
While his watchwords were dramatic intensity and emotional truth, Guadagni could match all comers for agility. Davies is no slouch either. Spurred by Arcangelo’s fiery orchestral introduction, he balances elegance and vehemence in the coloratura flourishes of Cyrus’s ‘Destructive war’ (Belshazzar). A bellicose ‘vengeance’ aria from Arne’s Alfred goes with a comparable swing. And it’s hardly Davies’s fault that a tripping number for the distraught, vacillating Aeneas from Hasse’s Didone abbandonata sounds too cheerful for the situation – though you won’t discover the dramatic context, here and elsewhere, from Patricia Howard’s otherwise informative note.
In carping mode you might point to some slightly flustered triplets in Didymus’s ‘The raptur’d soul’ from Theodora – the one role Handel wrote specifically for Guadagni. But Davies silences criticism in ‘O Lord, whose mercies’ (Saul) – the very voice of balm, cushioned by ravishing soft strings – and in a plangent aria from Gluck’s Telemaco, suggesting agitation just below the surface calm. Jonathan Cohen and his crack period band (the continuo inventively varied) are ever-sensitive and, where apt, virtuoso collaborators, and on their own find an ideal disciplined madness in one of CPE Bach’s ever-astonishing ‘Hamburg’ symphonies. If Davies is more closely miked than I prefer, it hardly hinders enjoyment of an imaginative, consummately sung programme from the brightest star among young British countertenors.
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