Handel had an incredible gift for melody, and a CD by Magdalena Kozena might well be entitled "Handel's Golden Hits". The music is remarkable and lovable; Kozena is one of my favourite singers, since she is able to "live" each song and communicate her identification with the feelings being expressed. Almost all the music here suits her mezzo-soprano voice perfectly; and Andrea Marcon and his Venice band make a thoroughly satisfactory contribution and it is glory all round -- especially to Georg Frederic.
I then re-sampled Lucy Crowe in her Handel CD. She certainly has a lovely voice but, as many violinists could well learn, a constant stream of golden beauty can pall; unlike Ms Crowe, Magdalena Kozena isn't afraid of breaking the flow and using a different voice to emphasise more violent emotions. A big disadvantage of the Crowe disc, however, is that she is balanced forward and Harry Bicket and the English Concert relegated to the background, not helped by somewhat anaemic playing from the band. A bit more zest and energy all round would not have come amiss, and most speeds in the slower music could have gone up a couple of notches.
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