Giulio Cesare in my living room
The glorious thing about recorded opera, on the radio or otherwise, is that you can listen to it on a lazy Sunday afternoon in your living room, with the windows flung open to let in the unusually mild winter air (sorry, any neighbors of mine who may not share my penchant for the Baroque). The drawback is that you can’t jump up and shriek "Brava! Brava!" at the end of a particularly impressive aria. Well, you can, but the singers can’t hear you.
I’m listening to Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto on the radio, and I will have to go out before the end of it. But, the announcers just indicated which recording they’re playing — the Rene Jacobs one from Harmonia Mundi — and boy is it ever going on my "Recordings to Invest In" list. And I found both the complete libretto (bilingual version here, with sound files) and the score online. My Italian is just good enough for me to follow along with the words, and someday I’ll get my music-reading skills back in enough order to be able to read the score with ease. But right now I am simply listening with, no doubt, a moony-eyed expression on my face.
I’d never heard Barbara Schlick before, but her "V’adoro, pupille" is utterly gorgeous. If I were Caesar I’d be running after her too: "vola, mio cor, al dolce incanto" indeed. And, speaking of Caesar, it’s Jennifer Larmore! I’m now officially a fan. I tuned in just in time for "Va tacito e nascosto", and wow. I think Call Me Mister is going on my Christmas list.
Also loving: Bernarda Fink as Cornelia; Derek Lee Ragin singing "Si, spietata" as a great big virtuoso hissyfit (I just noticed how well all those "S" sounds fit an aria that ends with "You shall taste my venom!"); and Marianne Rørholm’s Sesto. I love a good ensemble cast. And it just keeps getting better and better. ("Al lampo dell’armi" followed immediately by "Se pieta di me non senti": oh my oh my oh my.) This is why I love Handel more than any other composer except Mozart.
Next week’s Opera Matinee is Tristan und Isolde. I’m not a huge fan of Wagner, but the hosts of this show have such good taste in recordings that it may be time for another attempt to understand what all the fuss about Wagner is about.
I tend not to be a huge fan of opera, but I LOVE Baroque opera, and Guilio Cesare is a fab one.
Also–last year I tried to overcome some of my Wagner-phobia, by actually seeing it live. It helps! Believe me! A lot more makes sense.