George F. Handel – Rodelinda (2011)

1. Act I
2. Act II
3. Act III

Rodelinda  Renée Fleming (Soprano)
Eduige     Stephanie Blythe (Mezzo-soprano)
Bertarido  Andreas Scholl (Counter-tenor)
Unulfo     Iestyn Davies (Counter-tenor)
Grimoaldo  Joseph Kaiser (Tenor)
Garibaldo  Shenyang (Bass-baritone)

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Harry Bicket – conductor

Live broadcast from the Met, 3 XII 2011
BBC Radio 3 HD webcast

Renee Fleming and Andreas Scholl lead a superb cast in Stephen Wadsworths celebrated production of Handels Rodelinda from the Metropolitan Opera based on the Live in HD transmission to cinemas worldwide. The title role is unique in featuring no less than eight magnificent arias. Renee Flemings triumph in the first run of the production was hailed by The New York Times, Ms Fleming draws on every resource of her artistry in this portrayal: luminous sound, exquisite ornamentation, floating high notes, emotional volatility. Playing opposite her is Decca Classics countertenor star, Andreas Scholl, as King Bertarido, assumed dead, but returning to reclaim his throne and his queen. The handsome period production sets the drama of public and private passion in the Milan of Handels own time majestically presented in the set designs of Thomas Lynch and the lavish costumes of Martin Pakledinaz. ---amazon.com

Rodelinda was a product of the composer's London years with the Royal Academy of Music at the King's Theatre. It had its first performance there, on February 13, 1725. The cast was led by some of London's brightest stars. The first Rodelinda was Francesca Cuzzoni (1696–1778), the Parma-born virtuosa who had created Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare the previous year. Short and unattractive, Cuzzoni was celebrated for the beauty of her voice and the finish of her singing, as well as for her stubbornness: Handel once threatened to throw Cuzzoni out of a window during a rehearsal for his Ottone. To create the role of Bertarido, Handel chose the castrato Senesino (1686–1758), a singer of majestic height and manner who was the primo uomo of the King's Theatre company. Rodelinda essentially disappeared from the repertory until 1920, when the opera had its first modern revival, in Göttingen, produced by scholar and art historian Oskar Hagen, the father of actress and teacher Uta Hagen. --- operanews.com

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