Rodelinda

In the 1960s and ‘70s, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his original-instrument group Concentus Musicus Wien were pioneers of historically-informed performances of baroque music, but this 2011 production of Handel’s 1725 opera suggests that stylistically they have not kept pace with advances in the movement. Here, the orchestral sound lacks transparency, the tempi veer between driven and sluggish, and Harnoncourt’s habit of indulging in abrupt pauses in mid-movement (even in a post-curtain call reprise of the finale) feels like a crude affectation. Nor is the singing of the highest quality. In the title role of a medieval queen whose husband Bertarido has been deposed—and presumably killed—by Grimoaldo, who is trying to force Rodelinda to submit to his advances, soprano Danielle de Niese is dramatically powerful but vocally insecure. And while countertenor Bejun Mehta is superb as her (still living) spouse, tenor Kurt Streit (Grimoaldo) is strained by the vocal demands, as are other members of the ensemble (no wonder there are cuts to the score). Adding to the sorry state of affairs, stage director Philipp Harnoncourt (the conductor’s son) has transferred the action to what appears to be a seedy cinderblock in a modern slum, turning the characters into dueling factions of a criminal gang who constantly point guns at one another. The set revolves to situate singers in different grimy alcoves, and there is incessant stage business on the fringes that the camera occasionally focuses on while ignoring the principals. Rodelinda is one of Handel’s greatest operas, but one sees only fleeting glimpses of that greatness in this performance. Presented in PCM stereo, this is not a necessary purchase. (F. Swietek)