Handel’s Alcina, Les Musiciens du Louvre (at the Philharmonie de Paris), 07.02.2023

Marc Minkowski’s recordings of Handel operas are important items for any collector of stage works by thr Caro Sassone, and it was somehow sad that his masterpiece Alcina had been recorded live in Vienna in circumstances where this conductor was not working with his own team, but rather with a cast assembled by the Vienna State Opera. Although one would hardly complain of the glamorous names there assembled (some of them seen some years before in Munich, as reported here), Mr. Minkowski is a conductor known for his interest for singers, having discovered many artists who are now household items. This is why I was so curious about his series of concert this year, which is probably related to some sort of commercial release at some point. Here he offered a substantial edition – the dance numbers in the first act, the dream pantomimes, the three arias for Oberto. And there was a truly special cast, a group of singers whose artistry makes for any occasional shortcoming. 

Alcina is a role mezzos have flirted with. Joyce DiDonato has recorded it for Alan Curtis, Cecilia Bartoli has sung it in Zurich. The tessitura is indeed pretty central – and that poses a problem for mezzos in what regards decoration. If there was one drawback in this evening’s performance, it was the prevailing fancy for excessive embellishment, the kind of which sounds like the singer has reached a point he or she doesn’t know what he is doing anymore and starts to repeat random bits of text with no clear development. When a soprano finds herself in that situation, she can always use a secret weapon by resorting to unwritten high notes. That’s not the case with mezzo sopranos – and all of them here being high mezzo sopranos, their lower incursions were often underwhelming. So, as Mies van der Rohe used to say, sometimes (more often than not), less is more.

As it was, Magdalena Kozená was fully in charge with the notes written by Handel. She had sung in concert and recorded  at least one aria written for the title role (Ah, mio cor), but the comparison with her older self is favorable to what she is doing today. Ms. Kozená’s voice tends to the angelic, and to achieve some gutsiness she often had to distort a bit the tone. Now that her voice has matured, this comes more naturally to her. The slightly raucous effects are more integrated, the dynamic range has enlarged, the chesty effects in low notes hit home more effectively – and the feeling is more palpable in music of more passionate nature. Therefore, she managed to portray the development from charming hostess in Di, cor mio to raging fury in Ma quando tornerai, while making it believable that her feeling for her Ruggero was the single real thing in her magic island. 

Reviewers have often written that Erin Morley’s soprano can want tone or projection in Romantic repertoire, but the very smoothness of her high register is an asset in a role like Morgana. She never saturated the sound in her top notes, singing with constant poise, creaminess and naturalness, floating exquisite sounds in the hall. She offered a chic Tornami a vagheggiar, the variations in the repeat discrete, the coloratura effortless and charm in buckets. Her two arie d’affetto were sung with Innigkeit and poise too. Brava. 

Anna Bonitatibus’ silky mezzo soprano is not of heroic nature – she lacks space in the lower end of her range and her shimmering high notes are soft in tone. As the part of Ruggero is only occasional heroic, this means that she had plenty of opportunity to show off in terms of mezza voce and long winded legato. I have seen Philippe Jaroussky in this part, and I am afraid that his superior imagination and good taste made the  embellishment in elegiac numbers such as Mi lusinga il dolce affetto or Verdi prati far more touching. On the other hand, she could wow the audience with the fluidity of her fioriture, even in very fast tempi. 

Elizabeth DeShong can do no wrong in contralto roles in this repertoire. Her low register booms gloriously in the hall – and the conductor didn’t spare her in superfast accounts of her first two arias, where she displayed astonishing accuracy and a very long breath. If the tempo had been a tad less hectic, she could have done even more with the tone coloring and word pointing. Brava. 

The fact that Alois Mühlbacher was the boy soprano in Minkowski’s video from Vienna makes his appearance here as a countertenor in the same role of Oberto an involuntary theatrical effect (the character is looking for his father and it takes years until he finds him). It is a soprano part and it can be testing for a countertenor. The way we heard it this evening made it somehow childlike, as it should. And the tone is penetrating enough for a concert hall. 

Although Valerio Contaldo’s tenor is curiously bottled up (and his curiously closed vowels make it project even less), his ease with fast divisions, long breath and sense if theatre are praiseworthy, especially in a part usually poorly sung as Oronte. Last but not least, even if Alex Rosen sings in a way more buffo than the part requires, his bass is apt for the role, his bottom notes rich and full. 

I leave the best for last – Marc Minkowski’s understanding of the theatrical nature of Handel’s music is a lesson for every conductor in this repertoire. His ear for the dramatic effects in the context of tempo and phrasing brings the score to life in its absolute complexity and variety. And he can do it without ever making violence to his singers’ voices. This concert took place during a strike that made it difficult for the audience to leave the concert hall without the subway in a problematic neighborhood. When I realized he would play all the purely orchestral numbers, my first reaction was “oh, no, I’ll miss the midnight bus”, but 30 seconds later all I could care about was the spectacular playing of the Musiciens du Louvre. Their richness of tone, variety, bravado and commitment made them the most impressive “soloist” this evening. Bravissimi. 

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