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Review
This is not just another aria collection, but a celebration of genius, in composition and performance alike. --BBC Music Magazine 2010
AMERICAN Bejun Mehta is a phenomenon among today's countertenors. Past appearances at the Edinburgh Festival are testament to his extraordinary range and versatility, not to mention the wholesome quality he invests in performances of music as diverse as Handel and Vaughan Williams. Even in this disc (and accompanying behind-the-scenes DVD) devoted entirely to Handel arias he explores a universe of colour and emotion, and demonstrates the sheer effortlessness of his delivery (never once do you sense that slight unnatural unease so common among average countertenors) with the supremely stylish backing of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under René Jacobs. Welsh soprano Rosemary Joshua also features. --The Scotsman
AMERICAN Bejun Mehta is a phenomenon among today's countertenors. Past appearances at the Edinburgh Festival are testament to his extraordinary range and versatility, not to mention the wholesome quality he invests in performances of music as diverse as Handel and Vaughan Williams. Even in this disc (and accompanying behind-the-scenes DVD) devoted entirely to Handel arias he explores a universe of colour and emotion, and demonstrates the sheer effortlessness of his delivery (never once do you sense that slight unnatural unease so common among average countertenors) with the supremely stylish backing of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under René Jacobs. Welsh soprano Rosemary Joshua also features. --The Scotsman
AMERICAN Bejun Mehta is a phenomenon among today's countertenors. Past appearances at the Edinburgh Festival are testament to his extraordinary range and versatility, not to mention the wholesome quality he invests in performances of music as diverse as Handel and Vaughan Williams. Even in this disc (and accompanying behind-the-scenes DVD) devoted entirely to Handel arias he explores a universe of colour and emotion, and demonstrates the sheer effortlessness of his delivery (never once do you sense that slight unnatural unease so common among average countertenors) with the supremely stylish backing of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under René Jacobs. Welsh soprano Rosemary Joshua also features. --The Scotsman
AMERICAN Bejun Mehta is a phenomenon among today's countertenors. Past appearances at the Edinburgh Festival are testament to his extraordinary range and versatility, not to mention the wholesome quality he invests in performances of music as diverse as Handel and Vaughan Williams. Even in this disc (and accompanying behind-the-scenes DVD) devoted entirely to Handel arias he explores a universe of colour and emotion, and demonstrates the sheer effortlessness of his delivery (never once do you sense that slight unnatural unease so common among average countertenors) with the supremely stylish backing of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under René Jacobs. Welsh soprano Rosemary Joshua also features. --The Scotsman
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I love Handel and have all his operas (many in several versions) and quite a lot of arias compilations by a wide variety of talented singers, released over the past decades, but very few have given me so much pleasure -and none have I listened to so many times- as this well-thought and exemplary recorded disc. I have always preferred a good contralto or mezzo(like Nathalie Stuzman or Vivica Genaux, to mention just two) in the high-flying and heroic roles Handel wrote for the greatest castrati of the era. All the arias recorded here were created by Senesino, perhaps with Farinelli the biggest star of them all. And, although we cannot know how he sounded, to my ears a good female voice is always more pleasurable in these parts than the uneasy and somehow tricky singing produced by countertenors, even the good ones. But now comes rising-star Bejun Mehta to prove me wrong. Here we have a wonderful and beautiful voice, with effortless coloratura, breathtaking legato and "spìanato" line, that by shading and expressive utterance is able to convey with supreme artistry a whole range of emotions -from desperation and fury to menlancolic longing or extatic joy-, displaying with stunning beauty the darkness and light of these highly demanding arias. The da capo parts are imaginatively embellished, boasting a wide variety of belcanto resources. And if he is good in the high register, he's notably impressive in the low one, exhibiting a skilfull use of the chest (a rarity among countertenors). In fact, you forget quite soon you're listening to a countertenor. This is just a great singer, producing glorious sound and engaging with abandon in all the artifice of the baroque, when the human voice and particularly that of the castrato reigned supreme. A rare treasure. Nobody interested in singing should miss it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Bejun Mehta has had an unique recording career, firstly as a boy soprano, then as a cellist and finally as a counter tenor , after he resumed singing professionally in 1998. The DVD shows a very animated artist, with a passion for his music coursing through his veins to his fingertips. Rene Jacobs admires his distinguishing ability to sing softly in the higher and lower registers without strain. Most of these arias were composed by Handel for his favourite castrato, Senesino. Jacobs ensures that the music is subtly integrated with the voice, revealing all the novelty, nuances and shadows that the composer intended Senesino to bring out. Bejun begins with a bombast and vitality ( that reappears in aria 12), a torrent of silvery notes concealing his dark energy. He dazzles us with a bravura performance of repeatedly juggling with 'amor', tossing it up and down, including 'messa di voce'. Then he can subside into the most expressive tremolo for the lament of aria 3, contrasting this with agile leaps and bounds in aria 4's energetic coloratura section. The three subsequent arias allow Mehta to display conflicting light and shade as he ranges from fury to pity, rage to lament. Aria 9 'Ombra Cara' provides the fulcrum of the CD, with the listener only gradually aware that Mehta is singing with incredible liquidity. This is a virtuoso performance of the most delicate control which launches us onto an ocean of calm after a series of storms. The CD ends with a luscious duet in which Mehta provides the perfect foil for the exquisite soprano of Rosemary Joshua, the lute mingling in the final strains of some beautiful accompaniment. A photograph of Mehta in rich blue 18thc. costume adorns the sleeve.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Of all the current star counter-tenors, Bejun Mehta is supreme at conveying dramatic emotion. You are swept away by the depth and understanding he brings to each character. It's is not a disc for the shy, retiring, or closeted, but for those who enjoy Handel's writing in its full operatic grandeur. Only buy it if you are ready to weep at the intensity of light, shade, and colour; the sheer lyrical beauty of the performance as well as its delicacy may leave you breathless. Marvel, but hold onto your hanky which you will need.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Frankie
We're really enjoying this CD.These Handel arias are sublime in Mehta's voice.Service from Amazon was really good.Arrived in good time & in good condition. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Frankie
Beg, borrow or steal the money
I have long been in favour of CDs which come with a DVD, even when there is not much more than rehearsal footage [Natalie Dessay singing Bach, for example] The 14 minutes of this... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Graeme Withers
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