Christie is very much concerned with a smooth and generally rich texture and with delicacy of rhythmic shaping. His management of the recitative could hardly be bettered and moments of urgency or of other kinds of emotional stress are tellingly handled. Sometimes he favours a rather sustained style in the arias, making the textures seem airless and heavy, and the lines within them too smooth. However, to set against it there's his exceptional delicacy of timing, his careful but always natural-sounding moulding of cadences and other critical moments in the score. Not many Handel interpreters show this kind of regard for such matters and it's a delight to hear Handel's music so lovingly nurtured; it also helps the singers to convey meaning. The cast is very strong. The title-role is taken by a mezzo, Patricia Bardon, who draws a firm and often slender line, with that gleam in her tone that can so enliven the impact of a lowish mezzo – the famous Mad Scene is magnificent. The Sleep Scene, with very sweet, soft-toned playing of the violettemarine, is lovely.
Hilary Summers offers a very sensitively sung Medoro, pure and shapely in line. Harry van der Kamp makes a finely weighty Zoroastro, with plenty of resonance in his lower register; the last aria in particular is done in rousing fashion. As Angelica, Rosemary Joshua's musicianship comes through in her attractive phrasing and timing. Rosa Mannion's Dorinda is no less full of delights, catching the character to perfection.
Hogwood's lighter orchestral textures are appealing but the refinement of detail in the newer set is equally admirable.

‘Alcina is among the finest of Handels operas. The fine Erato set was recorded live at the Paris Opera.
Christie too is masterly at avoiding any monotony in the long sequence of da capo arias, with the recitative superbly timed and reprises beautifully decorated. It is striking that the star singers here are not just brilliant in tackling elaborate passage-work and ornamentation, but are stylishly scrupulous in avoiding unwanted aspirates. Renée Fleming is in glorious voice as Alcina… Natalie dessay as Alcina’s sister, Morgana, relishes the
challenge…