I must admit that I really don’t like Handel. But I am still going to recommend a CD that is almost half- filled with his arias. Is that possible? Yes, it is possible, because true beauty transcends all prejudices and preferences.

The short ‘O had I Jubal’s Lyre'(Joshua) is quickly forgotten at the first notes of ‘Che farò senza Euridice’.

Recording from Glyndebourne:

Sung so beautifully and so longingly that one is not able to pay much attention to the following ‘Care selve’ (Atalanta). And with ‘Plaisir d’amour’, it is already certain that you will never want to part with this CD, and you just have to surrender yourself to the beauty of it all.

Janet Baker sings “Plaisir d’amour” (TV recital, 1982):

You swoon at ‘Amarilli mia bella’, because nobody on earth has sung it more beautifully. ‘Che puro Ciel’, makes your eyes fill up with tears and you know for sure that this must be the highlight of the CD. Because even more emotion, even more beauty… no, that cannot not possible. And then it comes: the lament of Dido from Dido & Aeneas by Purcell.

Janet Baker as Dido (1966 recording):

The young Baker (the recording is from 1962) turns you into her Belinda, her confidante. You see her lips tremble and you want to comfort her and tell her that it will all be all right, but it won’t be all right and you just die with her.

The legendary lady Janet Baker
Handel, Gluck, Mozart, Purcell. Martini, Giordani
Philips4751562