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Notes
In Spring 2019, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, led by John Eliot Gardiner, presented a critically-acclaimed European tour of Handel’s opera 'Semele', including Alexandra Palace Theatre in London, where this live recording took place. Semele had not been performed by John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi ensembles since they originally recorded it in the 1980s and this recording gives listeners the chance to hear a fuller version of the work.
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Reviews
"... This is the material that this group can do in their sleep, given the long association with Handel's music, for they know every nuance and detail of the score, As a result, the performance is, as expected, excellent. Louise Alder's Semele is suitably light and demented in her famous aria, while Juno's Lucile Richardot has a rich and forceful tone ... this is a wonderful recording ..."
Bertil van Boer – Fanfare – May/June 2021
Chosen by Times critics as one of the best Classical albums of 2020
The Times & Sunday Times – 10 December 2020
Opera Choice
Performance ***** Recording ****
“… British soprano Louise Alder is riveting in the title role as she mutates from soft seductress to vain brat to crushed victim, applying a range of styles to develop her character… this, Semele production is gorgeous, and among the best ever.”
Berta Joncus – BBC Music magazine – Christmas 2020
Excellent Album ****
Philippe Venturini – Classica magazine (France) – December 2020/ January 2021
“… The recording quality is attractive and captures stage nuance well. You could hardly ask for a better programme note here than one by David Vickers. Presiding over all is Gardiner who directs with huge authority, imagination and engagement. His earlier recording is still powerfully attractive but in terms of intensity and immediacy this live version is finer still.”
Jonathan Woolf – MusicWeb-International.com – 24 September 2020
Editor's Choice Opera
"... It would seem that Gardiner has also cast his performance with dramtic imperatives in mind, for while his singers include relatively few familiar Handelian names, each has a colour and temperament to bring their character to life... Louise Alder is a happy choice, her voice rich, fluid and precise, and her agile and alert acting skills finding ideal projection in the wonderful clutch of arias Handel sets before her..."
Lindsay Kemp - Gramophone magazine - September 2020
Classical Album of the Week
“… Gardiner’s trump cards are his famous choir — thrilling in the great choral reaction to Semele’s death, O Terror and Astonishment! — and Louise Alder’s entrancing Semele, who makes every highlight, especially her vain and seductive Myself I shall adore and the bravura No, no, I’ll take no less. Hugo Hymas’s young Jupiter is an appealing, stylish Handelian. Gardiner is in his element with this great piece.”
Hugh Canning The Sunday Times (Culture magazine) – 2 August 2020
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