Händel – Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno
Théâtre des Champs Elysées, March 8 2005 La Bellezza: Veronica Cangemi. Il Piacere: Ann Hallenberg. Il Disinganno: Sonia Prina. Il Tempo: Pavol Breslik. Le Concert d’Astrée under Emmanuelle Haïm, conductor. The Triumph of Time and Greed, or Impatience Punished You may remember (but probably don’t) that in December I reviewed another Händel concert by Emmanuelle Haïm and her gang. I wrote “It’s a long time since I heard quite such an ‘unreconstructed’ HIP ensemble” and was, apparently not alone in my opinion, as on a French bulletin board someone commented that in a single concert Ms Haïm had cancelled out 30 years of progress in baroque performance practice. This time they were back with a gorgeously elaborate and Italianate cantata, a 150-minute allegorical debate between beauty, pleasure, time and disillusion. The last two win, of course. Well, the orchestra was a good deal better than on December 4. For a start, there were more instruments - safety in number...