Recent CD releases
In this new offering from Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, the AB Company bring to life a rare setting to music in Handel’s native tongue. Set to texts written by Hamburg senator and poet Barthold Heinrich Brockes the poems distill the essence of mankind’s wonder at God’s creation of nature. What stands out in these arias, and their crystal clear execution by up-and-coming soprano, Nuria Rial, is their relative musical simplicity, always allowing for clarity in the delivery of the texts. Despite her Catalonian roots, the clarity in Rial’s diction, particularly the German ‘-acht’ suffix at points makes a somewhat excessively harsh contrast against the softer music, although this is a minor distraction in an otherwise pleasing listening experience.
The ever-popular Music for the Royal Fireworks completes the second half of the CD, extending the AB Company’s ...
German Arias/Music for the Royal Fireworks by G.F. Handel (1685 - 1759)
Nuria Rial/Austrian Baroque Co.