Faramondo

G. F. Haendel

Shortly after its release in France in March 2009, the complete recording of Faramondo received the recognition of a Diapason découverte and a Diapason d’or from France’s respected music magazine Diapason. Shortly afterwards it was named Editor’s Choice by the leading British magazine Gramophone and went on to receive prestigious Deutscher Schallplattenpreis in Germany. All in all, it has sold more than 15,000 copies.

Faramondo, like the more famous Serse that followed it later in 1738, featured the celebrated castrato Caffarelli in its title role. The original libretto was by Apostolo Zeno, but Handel used an anonymous adaptation of a version set by Francesco Gasparini en 1720. Combining the themes of love and heroism, it offers considerable dramatic potential, realised by Handel in a score that, rather than offering a sequence of exquisite lamenti, presents an idealised vision of life by hymning both herosim and love. Its play of contrasts is powerful, taking an underestimated libretto and setting it to music that is sometimes emphatic, but never artificial.