‘Let’s enjoy ourselves!’ That’s what the artists decided to do, recalls Sandrine Piau. Beforethinking about the composition of the programme, the selection and ordering of the arias,the two singers began with a desire to make music together. Yet they hadn’t seen verymuch of each other previously. They had recently appeared together in a concert of cantatas by Alessandro Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Handel and Porpora, in the company of RinaldoAlessandrini. ‘I immediately felt vocal and musical affinities with Sara’, says Sandrineenthusiastically. And Sara Mingardo felt she was ‘in harmony’ with Sandrine Piau, whomshe regards as ‘the greatest interpreter of Handel’ and with whom she ‘can sight-read ascore very fast and immediately share the same phrasings’. With the two voices in perfect agreement to set out on this adventure, they needed to settleon a destination. The nineteenth century, which they both visit regularly despite their profile as ‘Baroque specialists’? No, that didn’t suit either of them. Then the promisingsubject of Handel opera came up, and quickly convinced both ladies. ‘Sara’s low register,as a true contralto and not a mezzo-soprano, was very well suited to the many roles hewrote for castratos’, adds Sandrine Piau.
All that was lacking to weigh anchor and follow a detailed chart was the captain: RinaldoAlessandrini was the right man for the job. He works regularly with Sara Mingardo, andtogether they have made several memorable recordings. Sandrine Piau took to himstraight away: ‘It was love at first sight! Italian musicians always have a feeling for lyricism, a wish to preserve the voice, to showcase it, to make it sound its best. AndRinaldo, who sings very well himself, senses exactly whether the tempo suits the voice ornot.’ Once the crew had been put together, each of them proposed their own itinerary, listening to the duets and drawing up their own list.
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