jflAmazon mp3: $20 | Amazon CD: ~$26 | ArkivMusic: $32 | Qobuz download: £12 - 17.5 (Hi-Res) | iTunes mp3: $20A quick check reveals that Fabio Biondi’s recording of Handel’s penultimate opera Imeneo is already the fifth(! ), but only 2004’s Andreas Spering’s bristling account on cpo is competitive among them: Handel performance has come a long way in the last decades. Fortunately, this isn’t as bad a thing it might sound in the case of this naturally short, two-hour opera. Europa Galante’s fiery overture creates electricity that dissolves over the next two hours, giving way to a light and delicate, slightly relaxed chamber-music-like reading. Monica Piccinini’s pointed, light soprano is an agile pleasure, sunnier than she is dramatic as Rosmene the pirate-abducted virgin.

Source: Forbes May 23, 2018 15:33 UTC