New Classical Tracks: The challenge of Handel

"Being an artist is being a student all your life, and putting challenges in front of yourself is the best thing to keep the fire alive," said tenor Rolando Villazon.

Villazon is describing his latest undertaking, which transports him from the world of 19th century Romantic opera, for which he's best known, to the realm of 18th century Baroque music.

Villazon says the whole adventure started in 2000, when he set foot in a music store and picked up a marvelous recording of Cecilia Bartoli singing Vivaldi.

"And I just thought, what a joy to listen to this music, and what a joy it must be to sing this music."

A few years later he teamed up with conductor Emmanuelle Haim, who convinced him he could sing arias by Monteverdi.

"This was really the discovery of a fantastic universe for me," Villazon said. "I thought, I love to do this, and I think I can say something with this music. I can serve this music."

Villazon's new disc is devoted to arias by Handel. He met with Paul McCreesh, founder and artistic director of the Gabrieli Players, several times before they decided the focus of this new project.

While working with McCreesh, Villazon learned that being a star in 19th century opera doesn't necessarily prepare you for the Baroque style of singing.

"With Paul it was more about the words, how to bring the words and the text alive with the music," he said. "In opera for the 19th century, if music is a wave, the singer could be a surfer. And it takes a lot to be a good surfer and then reach the beach safely."

"In Baroque music and early music, you cannot be the surfer. You kill the music if you are the surfer. You have to be part of the wave. You have to be just another element," he continued.

The first morning of the recording session was a disaster.

"I was not happy," he recalled, "and we knew we were not on the same page, we were not on the same wave."

In the afternoon they finally moved on to "Scherza, infida" from Handel's 'Ariodante."

"And the ambience of this aria -- how the voice has to melt into the music of the orchestra -- it was the perfect piece to get into what we were all looking for," said Villazon. "And as soon as we started recording that, you could see the smiles of the orchestra members and Paul McCreesh, and we all could feel we were in the wave."

Since Villazon was already stretching his style by singing Baroque arias, he thought, why not include some arias that weren't specifically for the tenor voice?

"One aria that I was going to record no matter what was 'Ombra mai fu,' and that's an aria for a castrato," said Villazon. "I heard it for the first time while I was in conservatory on a recording with Caruso, and I fell in love with that melody."

When Villazon mentioned his love for "Ombra mai fu" to Paul McCreesh, McCreesh said, why stop there? So they recorded the other two arias from Handel's "Xerxes," neither of which were written originally for tenor.

Then they started looking for other arias that might work. They chose two from Handel's "Ariodante."

"'Scherza infida' and 'Dopo notte'" are arias for castratos that are usually sung by mezzo sopranos. The thing is they work extremely well for the tenor voice," said Villazon. "In fact, Handel gave the same 'Dopo notte' aria for tenor in another opera. Even Handel gave a piece that was for castrato to a tenor."

Two arias from Handel's "The Resurrection" close out this recording. Villazon says it's a very inspiring conclusion.

"I wanted the last piece -- which is 'Caro figlio' -- I wanted it to be the last in order to give that beautiful last two minutes of music only to the orchestra. To let them finish the CD," said Villazon. "It's kind of a statement about the music. This is about Handel, this is about performers coming together and again bringing to life music which has been with us, with humanity, for 200 years."

Rolando Villazon took a risk by stretching his talent beyond the realm of 19th century opera. After listening to this collection of Handel arias, it's clear that gamble paid off.

Villazon approaches this style of music as he does any other, with impeccable technical skill, and fire in his belly.

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