Handel: Siroe.(Sound Recording Review)

[] Hallenberg, Stojkovic, Im; Schmid, Noack, de Jong; Cappella Coloniensis, Spering. Text and translations. Harmonia Mundi HMC 9018261.27

Of all Handel's stage works, Siroe might seem one of the least likely candidates for revival. After the overture, there is nothing but a stately--very stately--progression of twenty-four da capo arias and one truncated aria, broken only by two tiny sinfonias in Act III. The orchestra consists solely of strings and a pair of oboes, with the oboists simply doubling the violin lines when they do play. Sometimes there is only one unison line in the orchestra, and in one aria the unison orchestral line merely doubles the singer. Several of the B sections of the arias are for continuo accompaniment only, and there are enough pages of secco recitative in the score to wallpaper a standard bathroom. Siroe would seem to need the musical equivalent of CPR. Yet it proves to be a thoroughly enjoyable opera.

Conductor Andreas Spering has given the work a few little touch-ups. The oboe players switch to recorders for the pastoral last aria of Act II, and occasionally a lute player takes over from the harpsichord continuo. There are major cuts in the recitative. (Otherwise, the score is complete.) But Siroe doesn't need much help. There is as wide a variety of human emotion in the arias as in many of the Handel operas that hold the stage today. Nearly every successive number in this Metastasian tale of loyalty and clemency raises the dramatic stakes a notch, and the performers understand the are of the story. The only problem with this recording, and it is not a debilitating one, is Spering's penchant for fast tempos. The singers are capable enough at top speed, but the final dazzling aria "La mia speranza" is so fast as to be joyless. The B section ("the soul will find tranquility") of "Fra l'orror della tempesta" is so ...