Arminio

 

Handel Arminio opera to a libretto by Antonio Salvi. Directed 2017 by Max Emanuel Cencic at the International Handel Festival Karlsruhe. Stars Max Emanuel Cencic (Arminio), Gaia Petrone (Ramise), Lauren Snouffer (Tusnelda), Aleksandra Kubas-Kruk (Sigismondo), Owen Willetts (Tullio), Pavel Kudinov (Segeste), and Juan Sancho (Varo). George Petrou conducts the Armonia Atenea. Stage design by Helmut Stürmer; costumes by Helmut Stürmer and Corina Gramosteanu; lighting by Helmut Stürmer and Christoph Häcker; video by Etienne Guiol and Arnaud Pottier. Directed for TV by Corentin Leconte. Sung in Italian. Released 2018, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio Sound. Grade: NA

David Vickers, writing in the July 2018 Gramophone (at pages 91-92) is not enthusiastic about this title saying, “Most scenes are populated by characters not supposed to be on stage, and all sorts of invented superfluous action often distorts the opera.” Vickers views Arminio as one of Handel’s weaker works that can’t stand up to too much Regietheater mutilation. But as you can see from the clip below, this production wasn’t done on the cheap.

Here is an official clip from the Badisches Staatstheater:

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