The conductor and harpsichordist Bridget Cunningham brings back to life Handel’s pasticcio opera, Caio Fabbricio first performed in London in 1733 and based on an...

The conductor and harpsichordist Bridget Cunningham brings back to life Handel’s pasticcio opera, Caio Fabbricio first performed in London in 1733 and based on an earlier opera by Johann Adolf Hasse (1732).

Caio Fabbricio is London Early Opera’s eighth album in the prestigious Handel Series with Signum Records and is a pasticcio opera, a brilliant and well-considered collection of some of the finest 18th-century Neapolitan arias by different composers, including Leonardo Vinci and Leonardo Leo, selected and arranged by Handel who composed his own dramatic recitatives. London Early Opera (LEO) is a vibrant, baroque group of instrumentalists, singers, music teachers, re- searchers, historians and musicologists on a voyage of rediscovery making glorious baroque music and op- era relevant today.

As Artistic Director of London Early Opera, Bridget Cunningham is a leading exponent of baroque music and continues to create these outstanding recordings with Signum Records exploring Handel’s colorful life, influences and experiences which inspired his magnificent musical legacy.

REVIEW

Bridget Cunningham directs Caio Fabbricio brilliantly, leading from the harpsichord to energise the other players, and to give them space to exploit juicy passages. The singers’ virtuosity and rich characterisations are delightful; particularly good are rising stars  sopranos Miriam Allan and Anna Gorbachyova-Ogilvie and mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron. Each of the three has a vocal quality optimally suited to her character: Allan’s luminous core for the heroine Sestia, Gorbachyova-Ogilvie’s velvety textures for the lover Velusio, and Barron’s dark hues for the brutish ruler Pirro.

-- BBC Music Magazine