★★★★ M agdalena Kožená is one of today’s most refined and versatile singers. She has been active for just over two decades, regularly performing on the main stages of the world, with a repertoire that ranges from the baroque to the creations of contemporary composers.
For this recital, which marked her debut at the Teatro Colón, the Czech mezzo-soprano opted for baroque music, with a program centered on all the arias by the protagonist of the opera “Alcina”, by Georg Friedrich Händel. In this journey, Kožená deployed a palette of expressive resources to capture the intensity of the feelings of her character, a sorceress who, falling in love with the man she has bewitched, goes through a wide range of emotions. Stripped of any hint of artifice, Kožená showed her natural emission, her exquisite musicality and enormous sensitivity, with a masterful command of her instrument, always at the service of music and what she seeks to communicate. She was electrifying in the drama of “Ombre pallide” and moving in the profound “Mi restano le lagrime”.
The Venice Baroque Orchestra achieved a captivating fusion with Kožená’s voice, whose crystalline timbre blended perfectly with the ensemble’s strings. Alternating with interventions by the singer, the orchestra presented a series of instrumental works in solid versions, although in Vivaldi’s Concerto RV 212a the stylistic decisions were at times more acrobatic than musical.
Before the effusive applause, the singer and the ensemble said goodbye with two pieces out of the program: “Solo quella guancia bella”, by Vivaldi, and the famous “Lascia ch’io pianga”, by Händel
