Aksel! Arias by Bach, Handel and Mozart CD review – a remarkable debut

Boy trebles have a limited lifespan, and need to be captured at their peak, but they have a unique appeal. Voices break earlier today than they did in the baroque period, which makes the achievement of 13-year-old Norwegian Aksel Rykkvin in demanding repertory all the more remarkable. This disc is packed full of confident, musical singing, though not always impeccable in intonation. Apart from the ambiguity of having Cherubino’s arias sung by a real boy rather than a girl playing a boy, the pungent style in the Handel arias, also written for women, seems to be copied from the early-music sopranos of today, which gives the disc a rather postmodern feel.