Haendel: Siroe, Re di Persia

The orchestration of this work is basic, and not as exotic and extravagant as that of "Rinaldo" or "Teseo", with only strings, oboes with continuo. Handel's orchestration is always very specific, calculating and subtle, however the conductor Andreas Spering chose to add traverse flutes or recorders to the tutti sections of arias and in the one sinfonia even adds trumpets! This is somewhat callous as we know that instruments had specific meaning for baroque composers and especially Handel: eg. recorders either evoked pastoral settings (like Giustino's entrance) or deception as in 'Mio bel tesoro' in "Alcina" or flutes for extreme moments of sadness, e.g. 'Ombre pianti' in "Rodelinda" etc... In 'Degg'io morire o stella' Spering has the strings play pizzicato! Having said that, the tempi of the arias are, in my opinion, very well chosen and the drama moves along at just the right pace. I find that the use of rhythm is not quite as creative or exciting as what we could have had, say if a Minkowski or a Jacobs had conducted this performance.

The genius of Handel can be illustrated in a few arias in this work, eg. 'Fra l'orrore'. Handel had a third rate singer and was not able to compose the aria di bravura that the text calls for in the manor of 'Agitato da fiere tempeste'. Therefore Handel puts rushing scales into the orchestra to create the affect of the tempest. In 'Gelido in ogni vena' the horror of the situation is reflected in short phrases that seems to 'stop' - which reflect Cosroe's disbelief and horror. 'Degg'io morire', though an incredible piece of theatre and by far the best piece in the opera is not as haunting as 'Scherza infida', or ground-breaking as Orlando's mad scene.

The strong cast is made up of mostly young and unknown singers. The two sopranos who interpret the Cuzzoni (Laodice) and Faustina (Emira) roles have distinctly different voices and do full justice to their parts. The Laodice (Sunhae Im) has a very beautiful voice and technique but can at times sound a little hysterical in the faster arias, but elsewhere she sings with a superb legato where required, see 'Mi lagnero tacendo' in Act 2. The other soprano, Johanna Stojkovic, occasionally can sound a little uncomfortable with Faustina's overly virtuosic music, but she sings with lots of fire and inspiration that should make one overlook this small quibble. Ann Hallenberg as Siroe delivers a stunning performance with her generous voice and inspired interpretation, and I look forward to her Tauride in "Arianna" when it is released later this year. Sebastian Noack (Cosroe) sings with a beautiful voice, however he uses very little ornamentation in his arias. Was this his or the conductor's choice, as the other singers all have very tastefully decorated arias? The other bass, Arasse is sung by Timm de Jong. In Handel's version Arasse is restricted to the recitatives and therefore it is difficult to judge what de Jong's singing is really like. But what he does sing, he sounds very good with a solid voice and technique. The only weak link in this cast for me is the counter-tenor, Gunther Schmid (Medarse). He sounds over-parted and weak, yet he has a very beautiful voice when he is not forcing it to rise above the orchestra.

Judging "Siroe" on its own terms as a piece of theatre of the 18th century, it is not a weak work and is certainly infinitely more intelligently composed than most contemporary operas, like say Pergolesi's "Adriano in Siria" This recording is by no means ideal as it is an abridged version for a start - the recitative is heavily cut - yet all the arias as composed by Handel are performed in sequence - following the Chrysander edition. The third recording of "Siroe" is to be released later this year, conducted by Alan Curtis. Judging from previous recordings of Curtis and the cast he will be using, the Spering set should remain the preferable choice. I bought this recording on spec and honestly can say that I am not disappointed by it.

Siroe was premiered at London's Haymarket Theatre in 1728. The libretto is basically by Metastasio, who created an effective template for opera seria books for many years, but simplified to suit London taste. Siroe has been provisionally identified as the elder son Kavadh II Shiruya of the short-lived 7th century Persian king Khosrau II (Cosroe in the opera), threatened with disinheritance in favour of his younger brother 'Medarse' by his father because of his Cordelia-like refusal to take a loyalty oath. The simplification consists mainly in taking the subtleties out of Metastasio's depiction of the relationship between Cosroe and Siroe, in reducing the role of the general Arasse and in providing a happy ending with Siroe reinstated, Medarse pardoned and the scheming women reconciled to the new status quo.

The roles of both princes were taken by castrati in Handel's performances, Siroe himself being the legendary Senesino. The female roles were given to Mmes Cuzzoni and Bordoni, no less well known to those familiar with Handel's biography, and I should not be surprised to find that they have been given exactly equal numbers of notes to sing. In keeping with established modern practice, Medarse is sung by a counter-tenor and Siroe by a woman alto. I can only suppose that a generation familiar with Strauss's Oktavian written explicitly for a soprano will have no difficulty with the latter. For me, the most interesting piece of casting is Sunhae Im as Laodice. She is not an 'early music' stylist at all, but a modern soprano such as one might expect in Mozart, using a modern vibrato technique. I am personally in favour of this slightly hybrid approach to the production, just as I am in favour of the casting of Sutherland as Athalia in the Hogwood set of that oratorio. It helps with contrast and with definition of the characters. In a cast with not an Italian among them but the rest Europeans, it also seemed to me that hers was easily the best Italian pronunciation, although I ought also to say that my own command of Italian is nothing to write home about. The period-instrumental ensemble consists of 21 players all told including the small lute part and the fairly prominent harpsichord continuo. Tempi seem to me well judged, there is a vocal cadenza at the end of each aria, and while none of the singing is what I would call exactly outstanding it is appropriate in style (given my general view of Im) and well integrated under the direction of Spering.

Siroe is not the greatest Handel, although there are fascinating glimpses of that and quite frequently too. It is all recitative and aria with one slightly perfunctory final chorus presumably sung by the six soloists as no other credits are given. The production of the box-set is absolutely excellent, providing the libretto both in full and summarised, a synopsis of the plot and a learned but very readable background essay by Sabine Radermacher. The English translation of this is excellent too, and the translation of the libretto is as good as we have any right to expect. Translations into French and German are also supplied. The opera's three acts are neatly fitted on to two well-filled cd's, and the recorded quality is unexceptionable. Dirti di piu non posso.