Orlando

The three Handel opera excerpts – all of them associated, in one way or anther, with the famous castrato Senesino –    make a pleasingly symmetrical group. At the centre is Rinaldo’s lament for his lost love, “Cara sposa,” a masterpiece of sustained vocal melody accompanied by a gently articulated instrumental counterpoint and offset by a brief middle section of bravura defiance. It is framed here by two mainly quick arias – “Non fù già men forte Alcide,”a vigorous statement of heroic intentions from the central figure of Orlando, and “Furibondo spira il vento,” Arsace’s agitated expression of despair as his rekindled love for Rosmira, whom he had once abandoned, is apparently rejected.