Faramondo : Fasolis / I Barocchisti, Cencic, Jaroussky, etc (3CD)

GEORG FREDERIC HANDEL:
Faramondo

Max Emanuel Cencic
Philippe Jaroussky
Sophie Karthauser
Marina de Liso
Xavier Sabata
Terry Wey
In-Sung Sin
Fulvio Bettini
Choeur de la Radio Suisse
Lugano I Barocchisti
Diego Fasolis, conductor

Handel’s opera Faramondo (Pharamond), still rarely performed, is set in 5th century France. This production of Faramondo is probably unique in recording history - and maybe also in the performing history of Handel’s operas since the 18th century. It finally gives us a complete recording of a Handel opera with men singing all the male characters cast for singers with high voices.

At the opera’s first performances in London in 1738, Faramondo was sung by the star castrato Caffarelli, but the other two parts were sung by women dressed as men, since Handel could not afford to pay for additional castrati, who were the highest-paid stars of the day. Since then, women have generally been engaged to sing the highest male roles in Handel operas, with countertenors often being allocated the characters with music in the alto range.

As with female singers, there were alto, mezzo soprano and soprano castrati. Until recently, countertenors have tended to take the lower-lying roles that Handel and other Baroque composers wrote for castrati. Now, a growing number of countertenors also sing in the mezzo and soprano ranges. Cencic, Jaroussky and Sabata are part of this generation of ‘operatic countertenors’ who can provide the vocal agility and range of colour which have perhaps been more readily associated with the female voice.