Händel: Hercules

Bel Air Classiques
Blu-ray/HD release

William Christie, conductor
Luc Bondy, stage director

“But it’s the grand portrait of Dejanira that holds the attention in a marvellously evocative performance from Joyce DiDonato; her departures from Handel’s notes in the cause of dramatic effect are small blots on a magnificent landscape.”
-Classical-Music.com

“Joyce DiDonato is a referential Dejanirah. And at thirty-five years of age, the remarkable American mezzo was the great successor to Marilyn Horne and seems to converge on the roads paved by lyric mezzo predecessors as diverse as Janet Baker, Cecilia Bartoli, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Sarah Connolly, Susan Graham and Anne Sofie von Otter, another Dejanirah of renown. The Kansas singer portrays admirably, one with Christie unleashing torrential drama from the pit becomes, her arsenal holds a surprising vocal resources and she is also an extraordinary actress; rather, revelatory interpreter – final scene of madness crowned with the famous Where Shall I Fly a milestone in a career that would take her to where she is today.”

{Joyce DiDonato es una Dejanirah referencial. Ya a sus treinta y cinco años la notable mezzo americana era la gran sucesora de Marilyn Horne y donde parecerían convergir los caminos pavimentados por mezzos líricas precursoras tan diferentes como Janet Baker, Cecilia Bartoli, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Sarah Connolly, Susan Graham y Anne Sofie von Otter, otra Dejanirah de temer. La cantante de Kansas se acopla admirablemente, se hace una con el dramatismo torrencial que desata Christie desde el foso, ostenta una sorprendente batería de recursos vocales y es además una actriz extraordinaria; su escena final de locura – mejor dicho, de revelatoria lucidez – coronada con el célebre Where Shall I Fly marca un hito en una carrera que la llevaría al lugar en el que se encuentra hoy.}

-Miami Clásica

“Joyce DiDonato is brilliant as Dejanira, Hercules’ threatened wife …”

-The Whole Note

The drama is dominated by Dejanira, here sung by Joyce DiDonato, a young American mezzo-soprano with a vibrantly warm sound and agile coloratura technique. As her arias kept coming and the moods kept shifting . . . Ms. DiDonato kept on going, singing with affecting intensity and tireless stamina.

The New York Times