Dualità - Handel Opera Arias

Celebrated for the silky purity of a lyric soprano that extends to a high D, Emőke Baráth here explores Handel roles as she discovers a rich, lower register in her voice. Stylishly supported by countertenor-cum-conductor Philippe Jaroussky, Baráth gives us excerpts from nine operas featuring both female and male roles (hence this album’s “duality”). Cleopatra’s “Da tempeste”, from Giulio Cesare, sits alongside rarities such as Adelaide’s aria from Lotario, while the burnished tone of Baráth’s “new” voice shines in Radamisto’s “Ombra cara”. The jump from the sorceress Melissa to the warlike Achille provides one of the album’s most thrilling programming coups.