At the opening of the new season of “Baroque on stage”, Angers-Nantes Opéra and La Cité des Congrès program Alcina by Handel in concert version, under the direction of Christophe Rousset at the helm of his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques and talented soloists.
With the role of the protagonist, the soprano Karina Gauvin he captures the technique and the baroque aesthetics, with his voice and his presence, suggestive and controlled. Constantly renewing the phrasing (especially in the from the beginning-resources of the arias), thus evolves on more emotional and vocal registers. Her vulnerability in love with her and the pain of losing her lover Ruggiero are more and more palpable reaching a climax in “Ah! my heart”Where the lament makes her a tragic actress. Her voice with an opulent timbre encompasses rough and half-round sounds, with expressive agility. Her voice is pushed, intense, from suffocating moans to burning highs. She goes evil again with a sarcastic bass, she plays a tremolo representing tears, or a flattering voice, faded into piano and in a low voice, with intertwined sounds and gentle attacks to convey his loyalty and give substance to his character as a sincere lover. However, sometimes the overly developed vibrato alters the fluidity of the melodic line in passages that would require more stripping.
The round voice with the warm timbre of the mezzo-soprano Maite Beaumont, slightly acid in the treble is well suited to the role of Ruggiero (originally written for a tall castrato). He gives consistency to the complexity of the character, with his strong voice, well projected, from the grip of the bass and the great precision of the vocalizations that come out like a mocking laugh. Her precise attacks reflect her abusive relationship with Bradamante, but she also knows how to use the mass of voice, a voice that leads by diversifying the shades and enriching the more voluptuous colors. The delicate voice leads (supported by the violins) to mark the hesitations, and the delicacy pianissimo farewells that never lose support and phrasing complete the composition of the character who bursts better and better in the definitive liberation of the love spell: the voice is then dazzling like the horns that accompany it, the cascades of vocalizations confirm the triumph of de Ruggiero once a knight again and having regained sanity.
The rond and depth timbre of the mezzo-soprano Teresa Iervolino serves her in the role of Bradamante. Jealous or a lover of revenge, her voice gains momentum with precise attacks and long-lasting vocalizations. You bring out a great virtuosity and a search for diversification of colors to express desperation.
The role of Morgana belongs to the soprano Elsa Benoit in place of Rachel Redmond, suffering. Her delicately vibrating and quivering voice adapts to the feverishness of the playful seductress who immediately falls into the spell of Ricciardo-Bradamante. The soprano effortlessly develops aerial ornaments, radiant high notes and enveloping phrasing for his first interventions. He animates the role with her expressiveness brought by increasingly intense vocal colors, increasingly less vibrant emissions, increasingly sustained phrasing to transform herself into a repentant lover to obtain Oronte’s forgiveness (accompanied by Christophe Rousset himself on the harpsichord and Emmanuel Jacques on the cello, rightly applauded).
@ElsaBenoitOver will be our Morgana on Tuesday 25 October at the Cité des Congrès in Nantes @ANO ends @The_Soufflerie #Baroque On Stage ! Thank you for joining our production !! #ALCINE #Handel #last minute pic.twitter.com/NTN23n47QQ
– Talens Lyriques (@talenslyriques) 23 October 2022
Nick Pritchard sensitively plays the role of Oronte, the lover rejected by Morgana. His velvety tenor voice is expressive and nuanced. His phrases are diversified, i half voice and the treble lightened thanks to a controlled mixed voice. The touching suspensions offer a precious moment of intimacy but, at the other end of the range, it loses the grip of the bass which leads to an irregular projection that makes it less convincing in the hottest passages.
Finally, Melisso’s character returns to the bass Giovanni Petto. Her rich, resonant voice makes it easy to follow the stories. The imposing stamp marks the authoritativeness and the reason for this character. It alternates without difficulty the extreme registers, the ornamentation is cared for, the projection of the bass is supported by a strong attack of the consonants allowing an easy vocality, going growing up.
Christophe Rousset lead it all Les Talens Lyriques both smoothly and precisely. As a fine connoisseur, and in total complicity with his performers, he balances colors and volumes, following the breath of the singers with a clear phrasing, diversifying the characters to alternate dynamism and lyricism.
The amazed audience, very large, gave a long ovation to singers and musicians.
