Disc reviews by Matthew Westphal "Amazon.com"
No more making allowances for countertenors--now the best of the breed have voices as rich and as varied as those of any other range. Exhibit A: Gramophone cover boy Andreas Scholl. Unlike David Daniels and Brian Asawa, who made their splash on the opera stage, Scholl became famous as a concert and oratorio singer. He doesn't sing with Daniels's temperament and fire; along with a certain equanimity, he has a round, pleasing sound and a vibrato that's attractive but never intrusive. For his first operatic recording, Scholl chose his music wisely: rather than tempest arias or bursts of martial fury, he gives us long, beautifully shaped melody in the title aria and the famous "Verdi prati." He's at his delightful best in the "birdsong" and "hunting" arias from Giulio Cesare: the clean coloratura, detailed phrasing, and imaginative embellishment are reminiscent of Emma Kirkby in her prime. The instrumental soloists in those arias (violin and horn, respectively) are equally fine, as is the entire period-instrument orchestra. However, nearly half of the playing time on this disc is instrumental music--that seems rather much for a recording marketed as a showcase for a hot young singer. (The much-recorded concerto grosso "Alexander's Feast" in particular seems superfluous.) With that caveat in mind, this impressive disc won't disappoint.

SPOILER (EAC)

CODE Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 2 from 29. April 2011 EAC extraction logfile from 9. February 2012, 18:10 Andreas Scholl, Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin / Handel - Ombra mai fu Used drive  : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH20NS10  Adapter: 4  ID: 0 Read mode              : Secure Utilize accurate stream : Yes Defeat audio cache      : Yes Make use of C2 pointers : No Read offset correction                      : 667 Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out          : No Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes Delete leading and trailing silent blocks  : No Null samples used in CRC calculations      : Yes Used interface                              : Installed external ASPI interface Used output format : Internal WAV Routines Sample format      : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo TOC of the extracted CD     Track |  Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector     ---------------------------------------------------------         1  |  0:00.00 |  5:55.60 |        0    |    26684          2  |  5:55.60 |  3:18.62 |    26685    |    41596          3  |  9:14.47 |  3:30.28 |    41597    |    57374          4  | 12:45.00 |  3:49.10 |    57375    |    74559          5  | 16:34.10 |  1:12.57 |    74560    |    80016          6  | 17:46.67 |  0:40.00 |    80017    |    83016          7  | 18:26.67 |  3:03.25 |    83017    |    96766          8  | 21:30.17 |  7:53.43 |    96767    |  132284          9  | 29:23.60 |  1:55.22 |    132285    |  140931        10  | 31:19.07 |  6:51.33 |    140932    |  171789        11  | 38:10.40 |  4:33.37 |    171790    |  192301        12  | 42:44.02 |  1:03.55 |    192302    |  197081        13  | 43:47.57 |  0:32.63 |    197082    |  199544        14  | 44:20.45 |  1:06.65 |    199545    |  204559        15  | 45:27.35 |  2:28.25 |    204560    |  215684        16  | 47:55.60 |  5:01.57 |    215685    |  238316        17  | 52:57.42 |  1:34.65 |    238317    |  245431        18  | 54:32.32 |  0:31.23 |    245432    |  247779        19  | 55:03.55 |  4:45.02 |    247780    |  269156        20  | 59:48.57 |  3:50.20 |    269157    |  286426        21  | 63:39.02 |  3:22.68 |    286427    |  301644        22  | 67:01.70 |  2:26.25 |    301645    |  312619        23  | 69:28.20 |  3:20.67 |    312620    |  327686        24  | 72:49.12 |  3:29.30 |    327687    |  343391  Range status and errors Selected range     Filename Z:\NetLab\Handel - Ombra mai fu (Andreas Scholl, Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin) (1999)\Handel - Ombra mai fu.wav     Peak level 97.9 %     Extraction speed 8.2 X     Range quality 100.0 %     Test CRC F8C04437     Copy CRC F8C04437     Copy OK No errors occurred AccurateRip summary Track  1  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [1230C2EC]  (AR v2) Track  2  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [835CF64D]  (AR v2) Track  3  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [81C093E1]  (AR v2) Track  4  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [400B5DEC]  (AR v2) Track  5  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [E89CC4AE]  (AR v2) Track  6  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [FA7AF461]  (AR v2) Track  7  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [45D57BD0]  (AR v2) Track  8  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [FD68D125]  (AR v2) Track  9  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [C89A95B2]  (AR v2) Track 10  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [DA246171]  (AR v2) Track 11  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [14F24231]  (AR v2) Track 12  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [93C78C92]  (AR v2) Track 13  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [CCD02F9F]  (AR v2) Track 14  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [9E0389A7]  (AR v2) Track 15  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [ADACBDDA]  (AR v2) Track 16  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [ACB0BE4B]  (AR v2) Track 17  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [7C074B95]  (AR v2) Track 18  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [AB8F9E87]  (AR v2) Track 19  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [36BFCE15]  (AR v2) Track 20  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [51677F60]  (AR v2) Track 21  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [B3EB7D46]  (AR v2) Track 22  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [EAB567C9]  (AR v2) Track 23  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [BD260A94]  (AR v2) Track 24  accurately ripped (confidence 3)  [3162019B]  (AR v2) All tracks accurately ripped End of status report ==== Log checksum BC2C1D34F60D50A05086FFE0FC8C7ABF779AF6C17BD5E5833E1DCE614947BB7C ====

SPOILER (CUE)

CODE REM GENRE Aria, Opera REM DATE 1999 REM DISCID 7D11E218 REM COMMENT ExactAudioCopy v1.0b2 PERFORMER "Andreas Scholl, Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin" TITLE "Handel - Ombra mai fu" FILE "Andreas Scholl, Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin - Handel - Ombra mai fu.wv" WAVE   TRACK 01 AUDIO     TITLE "Admeto, Re di Tessaglia (Londres, 1727) - I. Ouverture"     INDEX 01 00:00:00   TRACK 02 AUDIO     TITLE "II. Ballo di Larve"     INDEX 01 05:55:60   TRACK 03 AUDIO     TITLE "III. Recitativo accompagnato ''Orride larve''"     INDEX 01 09:14:47   TRACK 04 AUDIO     TITLE "IV. Aria ''Chiudetevi, miei lumi'' (Atto I, scena I)"     INDEX 01 12:45:00   TRACK 05 AUDIO     TITLE "Serse (Londres, 1738) - I. Sinfonia"     INDEX 00 16:31:22     INDEX 01 16:34:10   TRACK 06 AUDIO     TITLE "II. Recitativo ''Frondi tenere''"     INDEX 01 17:46:67   TRACK 07 AUDIO     TITLE "III. Aria ''Ombra mai fu'' (Atto I, scena I)"     INDEX 01 18:26:67   TRACK 08 AUDIO     TITLE "Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Londres, 1724) - I. Aria ''Se in fiorito prato'' (At..."     INDEX 00 21:27:10     INDEX 01 21:30:17   TRACK 09 AUDIO     TITLE "II. Gigue"     INDEX 01 29:23:60   TRACK 10 AUDIO     TITLE "III. Aria ''Va tacito'' (Atto I, scena 9)"     INDEX 01 31:19:07   TRACK 11 AUDIO     TITLE "Radamisto, suite instrumentale (Londres, 1720) - I. Passacaille"     INDEX 00 38:06:70     INDEX 01 38:10:40   TRACK 12 AUDIO     TITLE "II. Gigue"     INDEX 01 42:44:02   TRACK 13 AUDIO     TITLE "III. Passepied"     INDEX 01 43:47:57   TRACK 14 AUDIO     TITLE "IV. Rigaudon"     INDEX 01 44:20:45   TRACK 15 AUDIO     TITLE "Rodelinda, Regina de Langobardi (Londres, 1725) - I. Sinfonia - Recitativo ''..."     INDEX 00 45:24:17     INDEX 01 45:27:35   TRACK 16 AUDIO     TITLE "II. Aria ''Dove sei'' (Atto I, scena 6)"     INDEX 01 47:55:60   TRACK 17 AUDIO     TITLE "III. Sinfonia"     INDEX 01 52:57:42   TRACK 18 AUDIO     TITLE "IV. Accompagnato ''Si, l'infida consorte''"     INDEX 01 54:32:32   TRACK 19 AUDIO     TITLE "V. Aria ''Confusa si miri'' (Atto I, scena 11)"     INDEX 01 55:03:55   TRACK 20 AUDIO     TITLE "Alcina (Londres, 1735) - Aria ''Verdi prati'' (Atto II, scena I)"     INDEX 00 59:45:25     INDEX 01 59:48:57   TRACK 21 AUDIO     TITLE "Alexander's Feast, concerto grosso (Londres, 1736) - I. Allegro"     INDEX 00 63:36:02     INDEX 01 63:39:02   TRACK 22 AUDIO     TITLE "II. Largo"     INDEX 01 67:01:70   TRACK 23 AUDIO     TITLE "III. Allegro"     INDEX 01 69:28:20   TRACK 24 AUDIO     TITLE "IV. Andante, non presto"     INDEX 01 72:49:12

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