“Rinaldo” by Harry Bicket

I watched Handel’s opera “Rinaldo” conducted by Harry Bicket.

This opera contains the two of the world’s greatest arias, “Cara sposa” and "Lascia ch'io pianga". These arias give listeners “Handalian moment” when suddenly time stops,  to bring you into the vast emotional universe. At the moment, his music crystallizes the moments of the psychological emotion depth.

They are deep dramatic arias, so first I thought “Rinaldo” is a dramatic serious opera like “Ariodante”. I didn’t know it’s a comedy, or at least, this production has very mockery comedic overtone with some 50’s style with old pop art  (70’s & 80’s?) flares which are both entertaining and borderline cheesy.

Instead the Crusaders invading Jerusalem, it is the Christian missionary in 50’s trying to win hearts and minds of the pagans “for victory of God” using instead of the strong, noble and handsome knight but 50’s gangster looking Rinaldo.

He falls in love with Almirena, the conservative daughter of the missionary leader as she does with him at first glance (it’s funny that in Handel’s operas, characters always fall in love at first flashing sight, without exception). But she is kidnapped by the pagan queen and powerful sorceress, Armida.

Rinaldo sings “Cara sposa” (“My wife, my lover, where are you? Come back, come back to my tears”). Under the captivity, Almirena sings "Lascia ch'io pianga" (“Let me weep, my cruel fate and let me sigh for liberty”).

Rinaldo and his missionary band reach the palace of Armida by overcoming hardships. There, beautiful and sexy Armida falls in love with him despite of the fact they’re enemies. She tries to seduce him by using magic without success. Again, as Handelian characters – especially female characters - always do, she also sings her heart out for her unrequited love.

Almirena was rescued and there is big battle between the two parties. And in the end, the missionary army wins victory by converting Armida to Christianity (I don’t think even Handel could mock the crusaders with such extent).

American countertenor, David Daniels sung the title role. He has dramatic technical singing skills and very beautiful textured singing voice. But even though he is wonderful singer and sung very well in this production, he is not my ideal singer for this role because his voice carries some amount of muffled sound and limited agility.

The sound of the orchestration was very good. All the singers including David Daniels sung very well with so much passion. Despite all these facts and considering the high musical quality of the production, I don’t know why but musically, this production didn’t move me deeply.

So I tried to figure out why by listening to other singers who sung the same music. And I found them, which matched my tastes or beyond my expectations. So far, these are the best renditions of the arias and duets sung in this opera I found on YouTube (so many people sung them!). They all are amazing in each own way.

“Lascia ch'io pianga” by Philippe Jaroussky

“Lascia ch'io pianga” by Magdalena Kozena

“Lascia ch'io pianga” by Olga Pyatigorskaya

“Lascia ch'io pianga” by Cecilia Bartoloni

“Cara sposa” by Philippe Jaroussky

“Cara sposa” by Sarah Mingardo

“Cara sposa” by Christophe Dumaux

“Cara sposa” by Delphine Galou

 “Venti turbini” by Philippe Jaroussky

“Venti turbini” by Ewa Poodles

“Venti turbini” by Antonio Giovannini

“Venti turbini” by Delphine Galou

“Venti turbini” by Marilyn Horne

"Mio cor, che mi sai dir?" by Nicola Marchesini

"Mio cor, che mi sai dir?" by David Walker (in this production)

“Ah! crudel, Il pianto mio” by Inga Kalna

“Ah! crudel, Il pianto mio” by Malin Hartelius

“Ah! crudel, Il pianto mio” by Hrachuhi Bassenz

“Siam prossimi al porto” by Christophe Dumaux

"Cor ingrato " by Christophe Dumaux

"Cor ingrato " by Ewa Podles

 “Abbrugio, avvampo e fremo” by Christophe Dumaux‬

“Abbrugio, avvampo e fremo” by Delphine Galou

“Abbrugio, avvampo e fremo” by Ewa Podles

"Sovra balze scoscesi e pungenti" by Nicola Marchesini

"No, no, che quest'alma" by Nicola Marchesini

"Combatti da forte" by Rosanna Savoia

“Al trionfo del nostro furore” by Inga Kalna & J. Ruth

“Al trionfo del nostro furore” by Noemi Nadelmann & Samuel Ramey (in this production)

“Furie terriblili! By Simone Kermes

“Furie terriblili! By Rita Shane

“Molto voglio” by Rita Shane

"Di Sion nell'alta sede" by Christophe Dumaux

“Il vostoro maggio” by Inga Kalna & Miah Persson

“Fermati!/No, crudel!” by Inga Kalna & Vivica Genaux

“Fermati!/No, crudel!” by Leontyne Price & Marilyn Horn