It’s odd that Handel’s Amadigi isn’t better known, given what it has going for it. For a start it’s short, for a Handel opera (these things are relative), and compact, with only four characters unless you count the deus ex machina who pops up for a few minutes at the end. Essentially it’s a drama about two lovers and the two people who are trying to break them up, and it might be straightforward if one of those interfering were not a witch. Audiences at the original London production in 1715 would have thrilled to the magic effects as the sorceress Melissa conjured up one spectacular scene-change after another.
UK audiences have been able to experience something of this recently thanks to English Touring Opera and Garsington, which both staged productions last year. Christian Curnyn was the conductor at Garsington; his recording, made with his regular group, the Early Opera Company, is only the work’s third. All the roles are for high voices, which could have made for unvaried home listening, but there’s an effective contrast between the liquid tone of Tim Mead’s countertenor in the title role and the distinctive steel-cored contralto of Hilary Summers as his false friend Dardano. The two sopranos, Mary Bevan as Melissa and Anna Dennis as Oriana, are closer in tone but both respond with some glorious singing to the way Handel’s music draws their differing characters.
