Handel: Duetti e terzetti italiani

Fabio Bonizzoni returns with a further Glossa release dedicated to the chamber vocal output of George Frideric Handel: a second volume of duets (and trios), which features the vocal talents of Roberta Invernizzi, Silvia Frigato, Thomas Bauer, and Krystian Adam.

Whilst Handel wrote these small-scale vocal works across his career, this new selection focuses on that astonishingly fertile brief stay that the young Saxon made in Italy from 1707 to 1709 (when he also produced many of the cantatas which Bonizzoni has recorded to great critical success for Glossa). These sensual duets and trios are imbued with Handel’s discovery of Italian – especially the Arcadian – culture, which included his hearing and understanding the music of Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti.

Much of the music on this recording is scored for soprano and bass and Roberta Invernizzi, in particular, is afforded another opportunity to demonstrate her deep responsiveness to Handel’s feeling for the Italian language. Not to be outdone in this respect are the other vocal soloists and, of course, the experienced continuo team of La Risonanza: Caterina Dell’Angello (cello), Evangelina Mascardi (theorbo), and Fabio Bonizzoni himself (harpsichord).