In the past few years we have held opera evenings with a few friends - French and English - at home. We are really lucky to have access to beautiful recordings of performances from Glyndebourne, Covent Garden, La Scala and elsewhere.
I've already enthused over Mozart, but some of Handel's operas excite us nearly as much. We have just rewatched the Glyndebourne production of Giulio Cesare with Sarah Connolly in one of the ultimate trouser roles as The Man Himself and the stunning Danielle de Niese as Cleopatra. How lucky Glyndebourne has been that she has become a family fixture.
In fact, it is a cast full of outstanding singers, most of them high voices - two excellent countertenors , Patricia Bardon in a surprising 'true alto' role (how rare) as Cornelia and Angelika Kirschlager in another trouser role as her son Sesto. We are so lucky to have such beautiful recordings to watch again and again, and Glyndebourne excels itself in promoting period instgrument performances of such qulity. The aria duet which Caesar sings with solo horn obbligato Va tacito e nascosto is a marvel in these days of virtuoso natural horn playing, with Sarah Connolly striding the stage in suitably imperial fashion.
The countertenors, Rachid ben Aslam and and Christopher Maltman, are wonderful and the rare male voice in a conventional male register, Christopher Maltman, is suitably evil though converted to the side of goodness before the end of the opera.
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