Handel, George F.: Renee Fleming.(Sound Recording Review)

Handel, George F.: Renee Fleming (singing arias). Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Harry Bicket. Recorded in 2003, at The Colosseum, Watford, England. Engineering and surround mixing: Neil Hutchinson. 70+ minutes. Decca 475 6186.

Handel wrote 42 operas and 30 oratorios, and the cornerstone of nearly every one of them was the aria. This release highlights the composer's talents over a period of forty years, demonstrating both his development and his very stable musical perspective. Music like this demands the utmost in talent, and in this case, Ms. Fleming does the music full justice. This disc is a serious vocal-music lover's dream come true.

Technically, there is little to fault, with but two minor problem areas. As with the Florez disc reviewed above, there is some background rumble intruding at times (even though this is a completely different hall), but only those with super subwoofers would notice, and even they may not be obnoxiously distracted. Indeed, the rumble (probably a big heater blower down in the basement somewhere) might help to highlight the concert-hall realism inherent in the recording.

As with most of the surround-sound recordings I have auditioned there is only a token amount of true center-channel information and the center feed might as well have not been used at all. (Yep, the SACD surround-sound tracks are basically 4.1 and not 5.1 channels.) In defense of the engineering choice (probably concern involving typical center-speaker quality and positioning), the dominant phantom center is quite stable and well focussed. That ...