Sabine Devieilhe sings “Ah! crudele e pur ten vai“ (Handel: Armida abbandonata)

Sabine Devieilhe, accompanied by Le Concert d’Astrée under its conductor Emmanuelle Haïm, sings ‘Ah! crudele’ from Handel’s Italian cantata Armida abbandonata. “It is a magnificent lament,” says the French soprano, “very feminine in its expressions of weakness and violence, but it’s also an aria of solitude, of a deserted woman.” It appears on an album of Handel cantatas, also featuring mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre, that Gramophone magazine chose as its Recording of the Month f