Handel: Semele

"Semele’s musical score is a glorious blend of irresistible solo arias - some virtuosic showstoppers, others lyrical, sensual and evocative, ensembles, duets, accompanied recitatives and (unlike his operas) imposing choruses. Still more than when I first performed it and recorded it almost forty years ago, I feel Semele’s time has finally come." John Eliot Gardiner