After a fine Handel recital CD, not to mention taking part in a dozen other major recordings, countertenor David Daniels has hit the jackpot. This fascinating, handsomely recorded CD offers us arias

Sento amor

After a fine Handel recital CD, not to mention taking part in a dozen other major recordings, countertenor David Daniels has hit the jackpot. This fascinating, handsomely recorded CD offers us arias from Mitridate and Ascanio in Alba, and a concert aria by Mozart (the only one he composed for male alto), as well as some Handel and Gluck arias. With them, Daniels takes us through every quality a classically trained singer should have and comes through with flying colors. The arias are about vengeance, sorrow, love--the usual--but within baroque strictures that means that some require lush, limpid singing, others ferocious coloratura and exclamatory heft, and some all of these. Daniels is the one countertenor around who doesn't seem to be afraid of leaning on his voice. It's of course not within the ability of a voice produced so high up to "boom," but the gradation of dynamics he has at his command offers us many different colors and moods. It may be true that an entire hour of countertenorizing can tire the ear, but the program has been so well chosen and is so intelligently ordered that this is not an issue here. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment plays energetically under the direction of Harry Bicket. Recommended for those who might be curious about how good this type of hybrid voice can actually be and certainly for fans of really good singing. --Robert Levine

Sento amor