Lucy Crowe (soprano), Christine Rice (mezzo-soprano), Iestyn Davies (countertenor), La Nuova Musica, David Bates

 

Pentatone, PTC 5186 892 — released 2021

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Handel's Unsung Heroes is La Nuova Musica's second release for Pentatone, following the label debut of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in 2019. Where that earlier disc put a countertenor centre stage, this one turns the spotlight on a different kind of soloist altogether: the obbligato instrumentalists who duet virtuosically alongside the singers in Handel's operas, but who are traditionally confined to an all but invisible existence in the orchestra pit. On this recording, violinist Thomas Gould, oboist Leo Duarte and bassoonist Joe Qiu step out of that background role to stand as equal partners alongside a starry vocal line-up; soprano Lucy Crowe, mezzo-soprano Christine Rice and countertenor Iestyn Davies, in arias where Handel wrote music every bit as virtuosic and lyrical for the instrumentalists as for the singers they accompany.

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The programme is drawn from five of Handel's operas, each chosen to showcase a different instrumental partnership. From Rinaldo comes "Or la tromba," the only aria Handel ever wrote for four trumpets and drums; from Giulio Cesare, "V'adoro, pupille," an aria so lavishly orchestrated in its own time that it exceeded the usual budget for an opera orchestra; from Alcina, "Sta nell'Ircana," with its wild hunting horns; and further repertoire drawn from Agrippina and Ariodante rounds out the collection. Taken together, the album is as much a celebration of Handel's orchestrational imagination as it is a showcase for La Nuova Musica's own players — the ensemble's own unsung heroes, as some of the finest Handelians working in Britain today.

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The recording was named BBC Music Magazine's Recording of the Month for December 2021, earning a five-star review that called it a stunning, original and erudite collection towering above its predecessors, and a heroic achievement for everyone involved. It was also named among Gramophone's Best Classical Music Albums of 2022.

 

Unsung Heroes sits within a run of critical recognition either side of it for La Nuova Musica on the Pentatone label: the ensemble's Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice that preceded it had been a joint BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone Editor's Choice, and both Beauteous Softness (2023) and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (2023) went on to draw similar acclaim after it.