Prom 55 preview - Rinaldo Glyndebourne

One of this season's highlights is Thursday's Prom 55 Handel Rinaldo fresh from Glyndebourne where the last performance took place early this week. 7 pm start. Listen live by following link, or on demand for 7 days. We might be better off with non staged or semi staged as the full production has ideas but no overall concept how they might work. (see full review here of the Glyndebourne staging). See HERE For review of the Proms semi-staging which is much better !)  Baroque is fantasy, so let your imagination run free. Battlefields, enchanted islands, flights over seas, skies and mountains, witchcraft and magic spells!

Orchestrally and vocally good, especially Luca Pisaroni who sings Argante, ostensibly the bad guy not the hero, but his characterisation is so good you get more involved with Argante than with the good guys. Listen for the ultra-dramatic moment when Argante enters. The Crusaders have been milling about clueless and suddenly this flamboyant, theatrical Moorish villain enters. Hear trumpets flourish, visualize flags unfurling, and the glint of metal, of swords and armour! Pisaroni will be singing the role again soon in the US and also Rossini's glorious Maometto Secondo, another Muslim hero who starts off as villain. Read my review of Maometto Secondo HERE and an interview with Luca Pisaroni HERE.

Below, Argante's Sibilar gli angui d'Aletto, Sam Ramey much later in life. (There's also a Gerald Finley verison available, but Ramey and Pisaroni have more presence.)