SITE RATING: 9/10
SITE
REVIEW: In film and
television, it's not unusual for actors to
aspire to become directors and/or producers;
similarly, in music it is not unheard of for
singers or performers to aspire to other
roles. Here, Argentine operatic
counter-tenor Franco Fagioli steps away from a
performance role and climbs onto the
conductor's podium to present this fresh
recording of Handel's Messiah.
Promotional materials for this release have
emphasized a strong South-American flavor that
this performance contains, which supposedly
makes it stand out from other releases. And,
after listening to it, I can affirm that claim
is somewhat justified: not that you'll find
Catalonian influences in the music itself;
this is a strongly idiomatic, Baroque
performance, with the Orchstre de L'Opera
Royal giving a fiery, fierce reading of the
music. They play on period instruments,
but with a noted passion and intensity missing
from European performances. Similarly,
the chorus and soloists bring a full-throated,
passion to their singing that is full of, for
lack of a better term, a Carmen-like
blaze to the oratorio, which makes it sound
more like a hot-blooded Italian opera than a
cool English masterwork. It's beguiling
- I don't think I've heard such intensity to
the arias and choruses since Stephen Layton's
2008 landmark recording, but this performance
is a little rougher, and rawer than even that
recording. Make no mistake, this is a
clean, razor-sharp reading, but the passion is
just below the surface, with unity of sound
sacrificed a little on the altar of emotional
connection. The soloists are all of a
piece - bringing strong, vibrato-laden
operatic singing to the fore, with the result
that sometimes they sound as if they're
emoting text from a steamy tele-novella than a
proper British outing. The differences
are subtle, at times bubbling just below the
surface, but they are present
throughout. Fans of the clean Baroque
sound will think this performance sounds very
odd, but for first-time listeners, this would
be an eye-opening introduction to the
possibilities of what Handel's Messiah
should sound like - if Franco Fagioli wanted
to make Messiah sound young and vital,
he's utterly succeeded. A fresh and
interesting addition to the canon.
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