Lea Desandre reviews
Magic Mozart
Sandrine Piau (soprano), Lea Desandre (mezzo-soprano), et al; Insula Orchestra/Laurence Equilbey (Erato)
Barricades
Thomas Dunford (archlute), Jean Rondeau (harpsichord), et al (Erato)
Stravaganze d'Amore! – The Birth of Opera at the Medici Court
Lea Desandre, Eva Zacik, Lucile Richardot et al; Pygmalion Choir & Orchestra/Raphaël Pichon (Versailles DVD)
Handel: Italian Cantatas
Sabine Devieilhe, Léa Desandre; Le Concert d’Astrée/Emmanuelle Haïm (Erato)
Paul Agnew directs Monteverdi's L’Orfeo
British tenor Paul Agnew tackles an operatic triathlon here, as soloist (in the roles of Eco and Apollo), and as both musical and stage director of this new production of L’Orfeo filmed at the Théâtre de Caen. His mise en scène paints a series of pastoral tableaux with apt simplicity – a welcome change from the anachronisms directors often impose on early opera (though the singers’ actions would have benefitted from a little more direction).