Solo album, Handel operatic arias, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, René Jacobs. Harmonia Mundi HMC902077

ECHO KLASSIK 2011, Best Operatic Recording of the Year

If Handel’s arias enjoy such success today, perhaps it is because they lie at the intersection between past and present, light and shadow. In his first recital for harmonia mundi, Bejun Mehta has performs selections from the repertoire of the famous castrato Senesino. From shadow (Ombra cara) to light (Sento la gioia), this album re-introduces Mehta’s prodigious talents as a solo artist. Also included is a bonus DVD with interviews and video of the recording sessions. Mehta made his first recording in 1983 for Delos when he was a boy soprano. Upon hearing that CD, Leonard Bernstein was moved to comment, “It is hard to believe the richness and maturity of musical understanding in this adolescent boy”. The boy-soprano CD, Bejun, was honored by the magazine Stereo Review as the Debut Recording Artist of the Year. After his voice changed, the multi-talented Mehta excelled both as a cellist and a producer, winning a 1997 GRAMMY® award for his work on Janos Starker’s final recording of the Bach Cello Suites. Mehta again took up singing in 1998, and has now become one of the most sought-after countertenors of his generation.