Don Satz:

>(Mackerras) managed to make Handel sound ordinary to me, and that's not
>easy to do.  He took the life out of Handel's music.

I wonder if any listers heard the Met broadcast today of Handel's "Giulio
Cesare"? It was by far the best thing the Met did this season,IMHO,
which seems very unexpected.  I fell in love with this opera when it was
presented here in San Francisco a good many years ago - a production from
the English National Opera.  And the Met used the same production, by John
Copley, it seems.  It is a very lively production, which still gives due
weight to some very beautiful and expressive arias.  The Met cast was,
however, far superior to anyone in the San Francisco effort.  Sylvia McNair
was a gloriously seductive Cleopatra, and Jennifer Larmore managed the
incredibly difficult and florid passages of Caesar's music with ease.
Add to that two wonderfully agile countertenors - it just got better
and better!

It confirmed for me what I have always felt about Handel's greatness.
His music has such liveliness, energy and bounce, and he is wonderfully
inventive in his accompaniments to the singers:  the instrumental
obbligatos were so varied in style and effect.  In particular, there is a
horn obbligato to one of Caesar's arias that makes one smile with pleasure.
The orchestra was excellently conducted by John Nelson, who I had never
heard of - can anyone tell me about him? And even though it was of course
a modern orchestra, I think Don Satz would have loved it!

Julia Werthimer <[log in to unmask]>
California, USA