"Cara speme"

I went into HMV today and spent such an obscene amount of money on music, that I think I'll have shoppers guilt for the rest of my life. However, in no way, shape or form do I feel guilty about buying this Wigmore Hall live recital disc. I was pretty much in tears when I went to book tickets for DiDonato's 2010 recital, only to realize it was completely sold out already; so I bought this as a, only slightly less exciting, consolation prize.

All of it's stunning, as expected - especially Hahn's 'Venezia' cycle, of which I'm already looking for the sheet music. However, as a newfound Handel fan - it was the encore of 'Cara Speme', from Giulio Cesare which really caught my ear :)

The aria is sung by Sesto (who was initially cast as a Soprano but Tenors were used even in Handel's lifetime) when Cleopatra agrees to help him avenge the murder of his father...by killing her brother...Oh opera, you're so brilliant in every single way. However, far from a fierce declaration of revenge (a bit like Magdalena Kozena's version), DiDonato gives this a softeness, and pensiveness which makes you feel he's doing this, without doubt, for the love of his father. This probably owes to the legato accompaniment as much as her sweet voice.

What first struck me about this recording, with simple, flowing piano reduction - was that I couldn't hear a lot of the typical Handel-y elements that are present in a lot of the Baroque recordings. However, the 'bounciness' of Handel would stick out like a sore thumb on this CD, which is really akin to 'easy listening'. I also love music with killer baseline. To illustrate this, I can tell you that, next to my numerous recital, full opera, extract, ballet, and song CDs - I have Lauren Hill, The Fugees, Eminem and Alicia Keys. I'm not all nerd...but the nerdy stuff's the best. But anway, a killer bassline...this has one, believe it or not. In fact, much of the accompaniment is only in bass and tenor clef :) So, as I was saying, the piano not only makes it fit in perfectly with the other repertoire on the disc, but also gives it a bit of a facelift, slightly modernizing it.

There is one part, in this entire aria, that I wait for - simply for that 'goosebump' sensation that only great music can cause. It comes on the word 'lusingar', and it leaps and descends and then rises again so majestically...I've rewound so many times to listen to it (it happens at about 1.45 in the Kozena video clip). Strangely, this part stuck out to me as sounding oddly 'modern' - even by Handel's 18th Century standards. I don't know what it is about it, but the series of notes seems decades ahead of its time compared to the rest of the piece - even on the more traditionally baroque recordings. It also has my beloved piano baseline running underneath it :)

Either way, the entire thing is beautiful - and what was initially intended to be the 'consolation' CD, has now made me even more disappointed that I'm missing out on seeing this great artist live. I'm going to have to see her sooner or later - she more than deserves to join the legends who've signed my i-pod :)

Top left: Roberto Alagna, Middle right: Renée Fleming, Bottom middle: Elina Garanca...there's some room for Joyce there somewhere...

UPDATE: Check out this legend...I found him on my youtube travels :)