By Leonardo Mattana Ereño, 24 May 2021
Universo Barroco’s season ended this particular year with a big bet: Handel’s opera, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, with the Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Andrea Marcon conducting and an excellent cast, which we will now discuss in more detail. We said it was a toss-up for the work’s well-known lack of pretension, to which should be added its length – the evening lasted about 4 hours – and the fact that it is in a concert version. It should be added that this is the 1725 version, in which the character of Sextus is played by a tenor for whom Handel wrote new arias. This results in greater tonal contrasts between the performers and a greater seriousness of the character of Sextus.
The structure of the opera, in the Italian style, has hardly any choral or ensemble scenes, except for the recitatives, which alternate with the arias of the individual characters. And it was precisely because of the importance that well-cultivated recitatives must have in order for the work to remain coherent and not fall into monotony that we were able to begin: Andrea Marcon, as a good concertmaster, played the recitative parts from the harpsichord and gave the singers selective but decisive cues. For the arias, the Italian conductor alternated the use of the keyboard with the direction of the Swiss ensemble. The Cetra Barockorchester Basel displayed a powerful, compact sound, with a magnificent four-horn section, plus the full woodwind section and harp, making this one of Handel’s operas that requires a larger ensemble.
This splendour was felt from the first bars of the overture: energetic phrasing, generous sound and, at the same time, rhythmic clarity provided a well-drawn picture that drew us completely into a baroque atmosphere. The titular protagonist, Carlo Vistoli’s Julius Caesar, appeared right after the opening piece with the aria “Presti omai l’Egizia terra”, which requires agility and good volume to face the instrumental cast. The truth is that at the beginning of the work, and generally in the first act, the Italian countertenor did not feel entirely at ease, being obscured by the orchestra and having certain difficulties in keeping the register, especially in the low notes. On the contrary, from the second act onwards he tempered his voice superbly and gave some very remarkable moments in the third act, such as the aria “Aure, deh, per pietà” or the excellent final scene. The other countertenor, Carlos Mena in the role of Tolomeo, filled his part solidly, both in the recitatives and in his arias, bringing the comic touch to the character that is so useful in marking the antagonism with both the Roman general and his sister Cleopatra. The latter, embodied by Hungarian soprano Emőke Baráth, has arguably some of the most beautiful arias in the opera, such as “Piangerò la sorte mia” or “Da tempeste il legno infranto”, which the soprano captured with great clarity of timbre, virtuosity borne of elegance and a drama that transcended the lack of staging. She received the warmest ovation and was probably the best of the evening.
But Giulio Cesare in Egitto has a common protagonist and the characters of Cornelia, Sextus or the councillor Aquilas have their arias in which they highlight and emphasise their virtues, which were not few. Mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor presented a Cornelia with a robust voice, agile and at the same time able to give the notes a deep resonance that shone especially in the opening scenes of the work. The Sextus of Juan Sancho, tenor in this 1725 version, is a complex character forced to choose between two evils against which to direct his revenge, Caesar or Ptolemy, and therefore in need of a dramatic mood without falling into mere vocal display, He succeeded in this with a serious and uncompromising stage presence as well as a convincing voice, correct in intonation and phrasing and by no means mannered, as he demonstrated at the end of the first act “S’armi a miei danni l’empio tiranno”. José Antonio López’s Aquilas also combined the heaviness of the role well with a voice that responded unhesitatingly to the demands of the score without relinquishing its workmanship.
With these ingredients, the reader can deduce that this was a performance of valuable calibre, in which the absence of staging was conspicuous only in some of the Act III denouements, and in which occasional gaps were amply compensated for by careful musical direction and a cast of high calibre, in which drama and delicacy were cleverly interwoven.