Dumaux’s dramatic presence is superb, and his tone secure through his range as he rehearses lines with which to denounce Tolomeo. The strings are also united, with a firm tone, and again and again in this recording they shine this way. Crucially, through this opening scene Bicket ensures the connecting tissue between rectitative and aria gives thrust to the story.
My attention returns to orchestral colours, especially the burnished tones of four horns in the opening chorus and Nadja Zwiener’s filigree, birdsong violin in Cesare’s ‘Se in fiorito ameno prato’.
It’s one of Handel’s most colourful orchestrations, richly rendered on this fabulour all-rounder recording. An outstanding addition to the ‘Handel for All’ collection and an album that surely captures Dumaux at the top of his game.
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