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Handel's Queens
Various composers

Bridget Cunningham

Handel's Queens

Price: € 22.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212057926
Catnr: SIGCD 579
Release date: 07 June 2019
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2 CD
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€ 22.95
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212057926
Catalogue number
SIGCD 579
Release date
07 June 2019
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL

About the album

Handel’s Queens features some of the most exquisite pieces of music written by G.F. Handel and his contemporaries for the two finest singers of the eighteenth century, Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni. Often wrongfully framed as rivals, these dazzling new recordings with Mary Bevan and Lucy Crowe reveal the distinctive yet versatile talent of the Italian vocalists.

Led by London Early Opera Director, Bridget Cunningham, Handel’s Queens serves an example of the group’s dedication to imaginative programming and outstanding period performance, placing them at the forefront of baroque research.

Handel’s Queens bevat enkele van de voortreffelijkste muziekstukken van Georg Friedrich Händel en zijn tijdgenoten voor de twee beste zangeressen van de 18e eeuw, Faustina Bordoni en Francesca Cuzzoni. Deze indrukwekkende nieuwe opnames met Mary Bevan en Lucy Crowe onthullen het kenmerkende maar toch veelzijdige talent van deze Italiaanse vocalisten, vaak verkeerd ingebeeld als rivalen.

Handel’s Queens dient als voorbeeld van de toewijding van London Early Opera, geleid door Bridget Cunningham, tot fantasierijke programmering en uitstekende uitvoeringen op historische instrumenten, waardoor ze op de voorgrond van het barokonderzoek worden geplaatst.

Artist(s)

Lucy Crowe (soprano)

Soprano Lucy Crowe was born in Steffordshire. With repertoire ranging from Purcell, Handel and Mozart to Donizetti’s Adina and Verdi’s Gilda she has sung with opera companies throughout the world, including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.
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Soprano Lucy Crowe was born in Steffordshire. With repertoire ranging from Purcell, Handel and Mozart to Donizetti’s Adina and Verdi’s Gilda she has sung with opera companies throughout the world, including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.

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Mary Bevan (soprano)

Mary Bevan appears with leading opera houses, orchestras and ensembles worldwide. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she sang Morgana in a new Richard Jones Alcina, Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, performed the title roles of Rossi Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and of Turnage Coraline at the Barbican, and made her main stage debut as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro. For English National Opera, roles include Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Eurydice in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld and Zerlina Don Giovanni. She made her debut with Opera di Roma as Cleopatra Giulio Cesare, returning as Morgana, also debuting for the Zurich Opera House (La Folie Platée) and Bayerische Staatsoper (title role La Calisto). Opera highlights elsewhere have...
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Mary Bevan appears with leading opera houses, orchestras and ensembles worldwide. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she sang Morgana in a new Richard Jones Alcina, Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, performed the title roles of Rossi Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and of Turnage Coraline at the Barbican, and made her main stage debut as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro. For English National Opera, roles include Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Eurydice in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld and Zerlina Don Giovanni. She made her debut with Opera di Roma as Cleopatra Giulio Cesare, returning as Morgana, also debuting for the Zurich Opera House (La Folie Platée) and Bayerische Staatsoper (title role La Calisto). Opera highlights elsewhere have included appearances with Opera de Monte Carlo, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro La Fenice, Royal Danish Opera, and the Bolshoi Theatre.

Bevan’s concert performances include her Carnegie Hall debut as Dalinda Ariodante with the English Concert (Harry Bicket), Creation at the Barbican with the Academy of Ancient Music, Sally Beamish The Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, orchestrated Schubert songs with the CBSO (Edward Gardner) and appearances with the Handel and Haydn Society Boston, Philharmonia Baroque, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Barokksolistine, LPO and at the BBC Proms. She has toured extensively across Europe, Australia, Asia and the US with the Kammerorchester Basel, Australian Chamber Orchestra and English Concert, and she appears regularly in recital at Wigmore Hall.

Bevan’s wide-ranging discography includes numerous releases on Signum Records: a recording of orchestral French song entitled Visions Illuminées, art song albums Voyages and Divine Muse with pianist Joseph Middleton, and Handel’s Queens. Other albums include Handel's The Triumph of Time and Truth and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, Vaughan Williams Symphony No.3 and Schubert Rosamunde with the BBC Philharmonic, Arthur Sullivan songs (Chandos), Vaughan Williams folk songs (Albion), Brahms Liebesliederwaltzer (Resonus), and more.

Bevan is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2019 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2025.


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London Early Opera

London Early Opera are leading exponents of baroque research as they work closely with musicologists, historians, editors and researchers finding new interesting programmes, unrecorded music which feature detailed historical performance practice. LEO link dramatic music and singing with narration and art history to create magical performances in their oratorio and concert performances. They have recently recorded discs of Handel at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and Handel in Italy with multi Grammy winning producer Chris Alder and singers Sophie, Mary and Ben Bevan, Eleanor Dennis, Greg Tassell, Kirsty Hopkins, Claire Bessent, Charles MacDougal. The group is directed by harpsichordist, conductor and early music specialist Bridget Cunningham and they have performed to acclaim at several major venues including Southwark Cathedral, Grosvenor Chapel and St James’ Church, Piccadilly and across France. London...
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London Early Opera are leading exponents of baroque research as they work closely with musicologists, historians, editors and researchers finding new interesting programmes, unrecorded music which feature detailed historical performance practice.

LEO link dramatic music and singing with narration and art history to create magical performances in their oratorio and concert performances.

They have recently recorded discs of Handel at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and Handel in Italy with multi Grammy winning producer Chris Alder and singers Sophie, Mary and Ben Bevan, Eleanor Dennis, Greg Tassell, Kirsty Hopkins, Claire Bessent, Charles MacDougal.

The group is directed by harpsichordist, conductor and early music specialist Bridget Cunningham and they have performed to acclaim at several major venues including Southwark Cathedral, Grosvenor Chapel and St James’ Church, Piccadilly and across France.

London Early Opera offers concerts, operas, educational workshops, lecture recitals and recordings and collaborate on other projects such as their recent recording of George Butterworth.


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Bridget Cunningham (conductor)

Bridget Cunningham is a prizewinning harpsichordist, musicologist and an international, versatile conductor who trained at the Royal College of Music where she was awarded a Fellowship. This celebratory recording is part of an important larger series of her albums with Signum Classics – many of which include world premiere recordings. As Artistic Director of London Early Opera, Cunningham is a leading exponent of baroque music and created these outstanding recordings with many international singers such as Sophie Bevan, Lucy Crowe and Mary Bevan, baroque musicians and historians. Albums include Handel’s Eight Great Harpsichord Suites, Handel in Italy, Caio Fabbricio HWV A9 , Handel at Vauxhall, Handel in Ireland and Handel’s Queens which have been reviewed with international acclaim and shortlisted for a Gramophone Award nomination in 2020; “Handel has never sounded better” (Handel’s Queens) ★★★★★ BBC Music Magazine, 2019 “Bridget Cunningham is just such a player... Her feeling for dance rhythms is infectious...
more

Bridget Cunningham is a prizewinning harpsichordist, musicologist and an international, versatile conductor who trained at the Royal College of Music where she was awarded a Fellowship.
This celebratory recording is part of an important larger series of her albums with Signum Classics – many of which include world premiere recordings.
As Artistic Director of London Early Opera, Cunningham is a leading exponent of baroque music and created these outstanding recordings with many international singers such as Sophie Bevan, Lucy Crowe and Mary Bevan, baroque musicians and historians. Albums include Handel’s Eight Great Harpsichord Suites, Handel in Italy, Caio Fabbricio HWV A9 , Handel at Vauxhall, Handel in Ireland and Handel’s Queens which have been reviewed with international acclaim and shortlisted for a Gramophone Award nomination in 2020; “Handel has never sounded better” (Handel’s Queens) ★★★★★ BBC Music Magazine, 2019 “Bridget Cunningham is just such a player... Her feeling for dance rhythms is infectious and her ability to entertain unassailable” (Handel’s Eight Great Harpsichord Suites) ★★★★★ 5 stars BBC Music Magazine, 2022 Cunningham’s harpsichord performances include playing at the London Handel Festival, Maison Hine Cognac, Victoria International Festival, Gozo as well as for the Royal family at Buckingham Palace. She has performed at the Innsbruck Festival, Yale University, St John’s Smith Square, Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, Handel Hendrix Museum, St George’s Hanover Square, the Foundling Museum and St Martin-in-the-Fields. She regularly collaborates with baroque dance groups and has a passion for combining the artworld with music. Cunningham is a keen advocate for directing baroque music from the harpsichord. As well as her numerous performances including several of Handel’s operas, Bach’s Easter Oratorio, Vivaldi’s Gloria and a 400th anniversary performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers at Southwark Cathedral, she has also directed a world premiere for BBC Radio 4 with London Early Opera written by a BBC Inspire Young Composer of the Year, Grace Evangeline- Mason, for the 300th Anniversary of Handel’s Water Music.
She has appeared on several BBC Radio and TV broadcasts including BBC Radio 3 In Tune, BBC 2 Messiah, BBC 4 Vivaldi’s Women, Radio 4 Front Row and SkyArts, RTE, RTP and Radio Stephansdom.


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Composer(s)

Press

Play album Play album
Disc #1
01.
Sinfonia
03:59
(Carlo Pollarolo) London Early Opera
02.
Da tempeste il legno infranto
06:09
(George Frideric Handel) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
03.
Se fosse il mio diletto
08:19
(Johann Adolph Hasse) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
04.
Recit: È tale Otton?; Aria: Falsa immagine
06:37
(George Frideric Handel) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
05.
Son prigioniera d’amore
05:29
(Nicola Porpora) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
06.
Stelle, tiranne stelle
05:27
(Giuseppe Maria Orlandini) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
07.
Solitudini amate
06:13
(George Frideric Handel) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
08.
Serba le belle lagrime
06:01
(Carlo Pollarolo) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
09.
Recit: Elisa che ricerchi; Aria: Voglio amore
05:05
(George Frideric Handel) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
10.
Fra catene ognor penando
03:44
(Antonio Vivaldi) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
11.
Nelle mie selve natìe
03:39
(Antonio Vivaldi) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
12.
Placa l’alma
03:17
(George Frideric Handel) Lucy Crowe, Mary Bevan, London Early Opera

Disc #2
01.
Scoglio d’immota fronte
05:24
(George Frideric Handel) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
02.
Recit: La sua disperazione; Aria: Se a ammollire il crudo amante
04:18
(Pietro Torri) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
03.
Gelosia, spietata Aletto
05:28
(George Frideric Handel) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
04.
Quel nome se ascolto
04:43
(Leonardo Leo) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
05.
Il volo così fido al dolce
05:59
(George Frideric Handel) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
06.
Alla sua gabbia d’oro
08:17
(George Frideric Handel) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
07.
Sento che già il pensier
04:35
(Giovanni Bononcini) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
08.
Deh! lascia o core
04:18
(Giovanni Bononcini) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
09.
Menuet
01:31
(Giovanni Bononcini) London Early Opera
10.
Ascolta o figlio
04:07
(Giovanni Bononcini) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
11.
Dea triforme, astro fecondo
04:07
(Leonardo Vinci) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
12.
Mi credi spietata?
03:45
(Johann Adolph Hasse) Mary Bevan , London Early Opera
13.
Rendi al Padre in me la figlia
05:05
(Attilio Ariosti) Lucy Crowe, London Early Opera
14.
La Libertà Cantata (Aria di camera)
05:08
(Maurice Greene) Mary Bevan, London Early Opera
show all tracks

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