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03.06.2008    Ah! mio cor - Händel arias

Handel is good for Magdalena Kozená. She can deploy her formidable range across alto, mezzo and soprano registers. She can spin a legato line across a simple lament or zing through a barrage of quickfire coloratura. And there¿s never any need to push -- not when Andrea Marcon and the Venice Baroque Orchestra are the intimate backing group, anyway . . . In Cara Speme, she . . . joined the dots, convincing herself of the aria´s prayerful hope through the conviction of the text and musical line; Ah! mio cor! from Alcina was a scorchingly intense portrayal of a sorceress spooked by her own lack of emotional control. That´s a mood that fits this singer´s mentality to a T . . . The terrifically dynamic and hugely entertaining playing of the VBO . . . in their scintillating selections from Vivaldi. Somehow they turned each of these mini Venetian bites into three-course banquets -- most of all in the winsome Concerto for two cellos, delivered as if it were folk music improvised on the spot rather than composed almost three centuries ago.
Neil Fisher, The Times (London) / 19 November 2007

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