(SOUNDBITE OF HANDEL'S "LA RESURREZIONE (1708), HWV 47 / PARTE PRIMA: 'DISSERRATEVI, O PORTE D'AVERNO'") GROSS: Sometimes we can overlook something that's right under our noses. Classical music critic ...

Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. The castratos of Handel’s day left a tremendous legacy of arias that is fought over today by mezzos and ...

This is a Handel year, the 250th anniversary of the composer's death. We remember George Frideric Handel primarily for his oratorio, "Messiah," one of the greatest masterpieces in the classical canon.

Best known as Mozart’s Figaro and Leporello, D’Arcangelo does wonders for Handel’s overlooked bass arias. A whole disc may seem like overload, but the programme is full of variety and D’Arcangelo ...

David Daniels, countertenor; Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Roger Norrington, conductor (Virgin Veritas). David Daniels’ reputation as the megastar of countertenors precedes him everywhere. He ...

A recital by The King’s Consort at the Wigmore Hall of Handel’s little-known Nine German Arias, performed with three of the composer’s oboe works, was a pleasant rather than revelatory evening. The ...

The debut recital disc by the Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva two years ago, a collection of Baroque selections aptly titled “Alleluia,” suggested the arrival of a formidable vocal talent, one blessed ...

Iestyn Davies is already known and rightly feted for his contributions to recordings of baroque opera and oratorio as well as for a number of solo albums, not least his Hyperion programme of arias for ...

Ruth Ann Swenson, soprano; Charles Mackerras, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (EMI Classics) Sometimes there is a perfect fit between singer and repertoire, and when that happens, a vocal ...

I WONDER whether Universal signed Danielle de Niese before they'd actually heard her sing? I wouldn't blame them. The publicity photos, which are liberally spread through the liner notes of this debut ...

GROSS: Sometimes we can overlook something that's right under our noses. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz tells us a story about a singer he discovered only a few months ago without realizing he ...