For this season’s visit to Carnegie Hall, part of a three-stop US tour, Harry Bicket and The English Concert performed Handel’s Baroque blockbuster, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, in its first-ever full-length presentation in this venue. With exquisite ensemble work, fine playing, a heavy dose of the dramatic, and a strong emphasis on the comic, this semi-staged concert version (no costumes or sets, and only minimal props) vividly recounted the historic meeting of Julius Caesar, the Roman general and statesman, and Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, in a stream of spectacular arias and memorable characterizations accompanied by sublime scoring.
Leading the resplendent roster of singers was the charismatic countertenor Christophe Dumaux as Cesare. With his commanding presence, nuanced and colorful instrument, graceful phrasing, effortless coloratura, and admirable breath control, he sang the part with ease. The many highlights of his performance included an expressively delivered ‘Non è si vago e bello’ as he sees Cleopatra (disguised as her servant Lidia) for the first time and is instantly besotted, his prowling ‘Va tacito e nascosto’ in response to Tolomeo’s threats, and ‘Se in fiorito’ where he and EC leader Nadja Zwiener traded coloratura passages and trills. His most powerful singing came in the Act Three aria of despair, ‘Dall’ondoso periglio’, where he exhibited an ear-dropping array of countertenor skills.
Dumaux’s Cesare was well-paired with Louise Alder’s Cleopatra. She displayed a supple and radiant soprano, strongly sensual in the passionately lyrical ‘V’adoro, pupille’, during which, in a clever touch, Dumaux entered from the back of the hall, ran down the aisle and plopped down in a seat to listen from the audience. She exhibiteda vigorous coloratura in her joyful Act Three ‘Da tempeste il legno infranto’, sung after being released from the clutches of her nasty brother, Tolomeo. She and Dumaux sounded glorious together in the concluding love duet, ‘Caro! Bella!’
Mezzos Beth Taylor and Paula Murrihy respectively portrayed Cornelia (Pompeo’s grieving widow) and her son Sesto. Taylor’s dark, richly focused voice was most stunning in her slow and stately saraband ‘Priva son d’ogni confort’, which she sings in response to seeing her husband’s severed head delivered to Cesare. Murrihy conveyed Sesto’s juvenile angst with tremendous verve, especially in the Act One ‘Svegliatevi nei core’ where ‘he’ vows to avenge his father’s death. Her lighter, more-lyrical qualities made a striking and attractive blend – in both close harmonies or unison – with Taylor’s contralto timbre as they expressed their sadness in the heart-wrenching mother-son duet, ‘Son nata a lagrimar’.
Cleopatra’s brother, the arrogant and devious Tolomeo, was stylishly played by John Holiday, whose agile, laser-focused countertenor was fascinating to hear as he smoothly bridged the role’s numerous and demanding vocal registers. Decked out in brightly colorful suits and Christian Louboutin sequined boots, his deft characterization straddled the line between the farcical and the villainous.
With his crystalline countertenor, Meili Li made a strong impression as Cleopatra’s confidante, Nireno. As Curio and Achilla, generals of the Roman and Egyptian armies, baritones Thomas Chenhall and Morgan Pearse held their own among the higher-flying notes of the principals.
Despite its themes of passion, political corruption, murder and warfare, the kaleidoscopic work offers many comic moments and The English Concert enhanced them. In Act One, Achilla presented Pompeo’s head to a horrified Cesare in a Macy’s shopping bag, and in Act Three, after being stabbed by Cornelia, Tolomeo fell down ‘dead’, then stood up, bowed to the audience, and strolled cheerfully off into the wings.
Seated at one of the two harpsichords, Harry Bicket directed the meticulously prepared 27-member ‘period’ ensemble with enthusiasm and precision, to produce a splendid performance that revealed all the glories of Handel’s semi-comic, semi-tragic masterpiece.
The post Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto at Carnegie Hall – Harry Bicket directs The English Concert with Christophe Dumaux, Louise Alder, Paula Murrihy & Beth Taylor appeared first on The Classical Source.
