Music / opera

Rodrigo


Reviews (6)


MusicalCriticism

d. 30. May 2009

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Dominique McHugh

d. 30. May 2009

"Anyone who loves the vocal music of this era will find it difficult to resist the charm of Handel's creation, especially when it's so persuasively performed by Al Ayre Español and Eduardo López Banzo. Those of us who relish the sound of period instrument orchestras will be entranced by the beautifully precise yet richly nuanced playing of the ensemble".


Diapason

2020 mars

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Luca Dupont-Spirio

2020 mars


BBC music magazine

2020 January

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Michael Church

2020 January

"Rodrigo may not be Handel at his most sublime ... [but] as the recitatives and arias pour out of Handel's cornucopia it bowls along with compelling grace ... Vocally the work is almost all in the top register, with three sopranos, two high countertenors, and one tenor ... But no praise could be too high for the musicianship of this brilliant sextet, or of Cummings's instrumental ensemble: there's ravishing continuo playing and a warm tutti sound".


Diapason

2009 avril

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Piotr Kaminski

2009 avril

"Vurdering: Diapason d'or".


International record review

2009 July/August

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Hugh Canning

2009 July/August

"What really swings the balance in favour of the new recording is the superb sound and López Banzo's direction. It hardly seems to matter to him or his brilliant Spanish musicians that Rodrigo is incomplete and that some of its music is second-division Handel. Indeed they make much of it sound better than it is. Hardcore Handelians will have to add this new version to their collection, and to Rodrigo first-timers I would recommend it as the yardstick recording by a whisker".


The gramophone

2019 December

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Richard Wigmore

2019 December

"At its best, the music of Rodrigo has an invigorating freshness, its raw, sometimes gawky energy tempered by an Italianate melodic suavity that Handel had honed in his cantatas ... Cummings directs his expert band of Handelians with more theatrical flair and rhythmic brio than [Alan] Curtis ... Cummings fields the more consistently satisfying cast, and makes the opera more dramatically compelling - the clinching factor for me".