A Baroque Evening with Nicholas McGegan conductor and Steven Isserlis cello

The story of the knight Orlando, who went insane from love during the age of Charlemagne, was a popular subject for composers, providing Haydn with his most successful opera, Orlando paladino. The sprightly overture introduces this parody of heroism which also has elements of pathos and sincere emotion. Handel’s opera Orlando treats the subject with more gravity, and contains one of the most extraordinary scenes in all of Baroque opera, a mad sce...