George Frideric Handel - Amore X Amore (2010)

01. Cantata Ho Fuggito Hwv 118 - Aria (Largo)
02. Cantata Ho Fuggito Hwv 118 - Recitativo
03. Cantata Ho Fuggito Hwv 118 - Aria (Allegro)
04. Organ Concerto Op.4 N°6 Hwv 294 - Andante-Allegro
05. Cantata Lungi Da Me, Pensier Tiranno Hwv 125b - Recitativo
06. Cantata Lungi Da Me, Pensier Tiranno Hwv 125b - Aria				play
07. Cantata Lungi Da Me, Pensier Tiranno Hwv 125b - Recitativo
08. Cantata Lungi Da Me, Pensier Tiranno Hwv 125b - Aria
09. Cantata Lungi Da Me, Pensier Tiranno Hwv 125b - Recitativo
10. Cantata Lungi Da Me, Pensier Tiranno Hwv 125b - Aria
11. Violin Sonata In D Minor Hwv 359a - Grave
12. Violin Sonata In D Minor Hwv 359a - Allegro							play
13. Cantata Nel Doce Tempo Hwv 135b - Recitativo
14. Cantata Nel Doce Tempo Hwv 135b - Aria (Andante)
15. Cantata Nel Doce Tempo Hwv 135b - Recitativo
16. Cantata Nel Doce Tempo Hwv 135b - Aria
17. Harpsichord Suite N°7 In G Minor Hwv 432 - Passacaille
18. Cantata Clori, Degli Occhi Miei Hwv 91a - Recitativo
19. Cantata Clori, Degli Occhi Miei Hwv 91a - Aria
20. Cantata Clori, Degli Occhi Miei Hwv 91a - Recitativo
21. Cantata Clori, Degli Occhi Miei Hwv 91a - Aria (Allegro)
22. Violin Sonata In D Minor Hwv 359a - Adagio
23. Violin Sonata In D Minor Hwv 359a - Allegro
24. Cantata Dolc'è Pur D'amor L'affanno Hwv 109a - Aria (Andante)
25. Cantata Dolc'è Pur D'amor L'affanno Hwv 109a - Recitativo
26. Cantata Dolc'è Pur D'amor L'affanno Hwv 109a - Aria (Allegro)

Xavier Sabata (countertenor), 
Aaron Zapico (harpsichord/director), 
Pablo Zapico (archlute, guitar), 
Daniel Zapico (theorbo, tiorbino), 
Enrike Solinis (guitar, archlute, theorbo), 
Rami Alqhai (viola da gamba)

Recorded at Fundació Auditori Palau de Congressos, Girona, Spain, May 23-26, 2009.

Handel came to Italy as a promising, ambitious young composer bursting with talent, and left it as a mature composer, permanently impregnated with the light and the vocal art of Italy. Some of the great works were written during these significant years in his development (La Resurrezione, Dixit Dominus, Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, Aci, Polifemo e Galatea, Rodrigo…) His cantatas, however, are the great unknowns in his output, within which it is precisely these works that emerge as an important test bed for his music.

Winter & Winter has entrusted this task to a young ensemble, Forma Antiqva, which marks the Munich label's first collaboration with Spanish musicians. The work of the three Zapico brothers with Forma Antiqva inevitably recalls the Kuijkens from Belgium, and in the youngest generation, the Ashby sisters who form part of the excellent group Stile Antico. This first Spanish 'commitment' by Winter & Winter is completed by the participation of the young singer Xavier Sabata: he possesses everything that is needed for these cantatas: clear diction, imagination, passion, engagement and the power of conviction.Thanks to him, the epoch of Spanish 'sopranisti', who enjoyed well-deserved fame throughout Euope, and inspired many to undertake their own personal 'Viaggio in Italia', has made its way back into our consciousness. --- prestoclassical.co.uk

For its debut album on Winter & Winter, the five-member ensemble Forma Antiqva, made up of harpsichord and plucked and bowed strings, presents an attractive program of vocal and instrumental music by Handel, the vocal works written early in his career, and the instrumental pieces from his mature period. The five Italian cantatas, as the title of the album suggests, deal with love, either happy or frustrated. They are delightfully lyrical and dramatic works, and the intimacy of the small ensemble makes them even more emotionally urgent and fresh-sounding. Male alto Xavier Sabata has a somewhat white sound, but his voice is full and expressive, and he has the technique to dispatch the music's virtuoso demands with apparent effortlessness. He has an especially velvety legato that makes the most of Handel's warm melismatic melodies, such as the first aria from Nel dolce tempo.

Harpsichordist Aarón Zapico, who created the imaginative realizations, also leads the ensemble, which derives an especially rich and colorful sound from the varied instruments employed. The playing matches Sabata's singing in its spontaneity and liveliness. The instrumentalists are capable of producing a conventionally refined sound, but they are also willing and able to dig in and play with a gritty earthiness when appropriate. The cantatas are separated by four instrumental works, Zapico's skillful arrangements of a variety of pieces ranging from the familiar Organ Concerto in B flat major No. 6/4 to a keyboard suite and violin sonata. The sound is clean and clear, but not especially spacious. The diversity of works and the exceptional singing and playing make this a release that should be of strong interest to fans of Handel, and particularly to fans of countertenors. --- Stephen Eddins, allmusic.com

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