Kate Lindsey - Arianna - The Observer

Countless composers have had a fascination with the abandoned figure of Ariadne, or Arianna, who helped Theseus kill the Cretan Minotaur and ended up alone on the island of Naxos, saved by the love of Bacchus and immortalised in the stars.

Arianna (Alpha Classics), devised by the American mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, with the ensemble Arcangelo directed by Jonathan Cohen, features three cantatas with Ariadne as the starting point. In Alessandro Scarlatti’s Ebra d’amor fuggia, drunk with love and then distraught, Arianna unleashes her fury, calling on whirlpools and sea monsters to tear the treacherous Theseus limb from limb. Quite right too.

Handel’s Ah! Crudel, nel pianto mio (some of which was reworked in his opera Agrippina) doesn’t name the betrayed lover, but the emotions are intense and clear. Haydn’s lovely cantata Arianna a Naxos has no redemption through Bacchus and ends in tragedy. With playing of verve and style by Arcangelo, this rewarding album offers a fine platform for Lindsey, pure-voiced, pliant, expressive – and versatile.