ARTS 
Classical music Emmanuelle Haïm
La Resurrezione
EMI (2 CDs)
Handel was a precocious 23-year old when he wrote his Easter Sunday oratorio in 1708 for the Arcadian Academy, run by one of Rome’s wealthiest arts patrons. It is extravagantly scored and designed to impress, with strongly contrasted dramatic moods featuring Lucifer, an Angel, St John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalen and Mary Cleophas. Its importance lies not so much in the episodic subject matter as in its boldly expressive Italianate music, much of it tender and profound, which shows us how quickly Handel established his credentials as a front-rank composer.
