JEPHTHA

SAUL

ACIS UND GALATEA

Rediscover the brilliance of Handel's 8 harpsichord suites from 1720! Handel composed these suites not only as performance pieces but also as teaching material, possibly to support himself financially after his father's death and before his opera ventures. Despite their educational purpose, Handel's suites were crafted with artistic sophistication, demanding skill and interpretation from performers. The suites themselves demonstrate Handel's versatility and innovation. They incorporate various suite types, including traditional four-movement suites and sonatas inspired by Corelli's trio sonatas. Handel's use of variations, fugues, and other forms highlights his compositional prowess. Handel's 1720 collection received widespread acclaim across Europe, inspiring composers like Bach, Muffat, and Rameau to incorporate similar elements into their works. Handel's ability to fuse French, Italian, and German influences into his compositions exemplifies the "mixed taste" aesthetic of the time.

SOLOMON

First performed in 1729 and quickly forgotten, Lotario is a worthy work with plenty of effective arias and a duet, with characters and intrigues that demand attention. Conductor Alan Curtis explains in the liner notes that he has cut the recitatives and an aria or two in order to get the work onto two CDs. I can't argue with his decision, and it's good to have such a fine performance of this unknown work available.

The plot: Berengario (tenor) wants to rule Italy, so he has murdered the king; and with his scheming wife Matilde (contralto) he tries to get Adelaide (soprano), the dead king's widow, to marry his (Berengario's) son Idelberto (contralto), who actually does love Adelaide. She of course is not interested in wedding the son of her husband's enemy, and luckily Lotario, king of Germany (contralto, originally castrato), shows up, and since he loves Adelaide, he wants to protect her. Matilde, the opera's true stinker, keeps trying to kill Adelaide. Armies fight, the bad guys are defeated, everyone forgives Matilde and Berengario, and Idelberto becomes king (but loses Adelaide), and Adelaide and Lotario are happily in love.

There's not a lot to sink your teeth into, save for the manipulations of Matilde, which are never-ending and fun, and some stunning arias, particularly the storm-tossed one for Adelaide that ends Act 1 and Lotario's determined andante that ends Act 2. This last is gorgeously sung by Sara Mingardo, whose dark, rich tone is always welcome, although for the first time on disc she sounds tentative and uninvolved most of the time. Considering Lotario is the hero, this is a problem. But soprano Simone Kermes is magnificent as Adelaide--accurate and quite daring in her vocal leaps and embellishments, occasionally sounding crazy but always interesting, indeed, riveting. Similarly, the nasty Matilde of Sonia Prina is a joy. She's not a mustache-twirling villain, and she knows how to wheedle as well as menace, using her darkish tone (though distinctly different from Mingardo's) with skill. The oddest-voiced of the three "contraltos" is Hilary Summers as Idelberto--she sounds more like a countertenor than a woman--and she's effective in her arias, especially the first, "Per salvarti, idolo mio". Steve Davislim's Berengario is not a one-dimensional meanie; he shows remorse half-way through the opera. Davislim's tenor is not particularly bright (the role sits low), but his breath control and ease with divisions is staggering--sample his second-act "D'instabile fortuna".

Curtis breathes life into each aria and paces the recitatives wisely. He takes time over the warm, loving arias and doesn't give in to the temptation to rip into the allegros. His Complesso Barocco plays with grace and elegance and the harpsichord is audible but not intrusive. Sound is excellent. This is a needed and welcome addition to the ever-growing Handel discography.

--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday

This selection is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording.

Handel’s Almira with the BEMF. The Boston Early Music Festival has recorded George Frideric Handel’s very first opera, Almira, Queen of Castile, with a superlatively sumptuous ensemble. For its previous recordings of Baroque operas this successful ensemble has won prizes such as the Grammy, the German Record Critics Annual Prize, and the Echo Klassik. The Hungarian soprano Emoke Baráth sings the role of Almira with a choice ensemble of singers, all of whom have performed in the world’s most renowned concert halls and opera houses. Handel’s Almira is based on a freely invented plot featuring fine entertainment in the form of love and marriage schemes among the nobility, infidelity and mistaken identities, and a happy ending brought about by a court servant’s negotiations. This work was presented at the Hamburg Opera House in 1705 about twenty times and with great success. At the time Reinhard Keiser was the director of the Hamburg Opera, and he merits great praise for giving the young Handel, who then was earning his livelihood as a second tutti violinist in the orchestra pit, to compose and present an opera under his supervision. Handel’s Almira would as a work not be imaginable apart from the special circumstances prevailing at the Hamburg Opera: various styles and various languages are mixed, and it includes German and Italian arias, vocal dance numbers and da capo pieces, as well as instrumental ballet inserts of larger format. The result is indeed a colorful mixture, and the melodic signature so typical of Handel is already omnipresent and creates a fascinating unity – now heard with a top-quality ensemble!

Initially a failure when first performed in London in 1750, 'Theodora' has proved to be one of Handel's most enduring and compassionate masterpieces - a work of introspective depth about the redemptive power of tolerance. Theodora's determination to die in defence of her religious freedom offers her the promise of eternal salvation. In this acclaimed Viennese production, award-winning stage director Stefan Herheim contrasts Theodora's self-sacrifice with the lack of spiritual direction of our own times. La Folia Barockorchester and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor are conducted by the acclaimed countertenor and Handel specialist Bejun Mehta.

Initially a failure when first performed in London in 1750, 'Theodora' has proved to be one of Handel's most enduring and compassionate masterpieces - a work of introspective depth about the redemptive power of tolerance. Theodora's determination to die in defence of her religious freedom offers her the promise of eternal salvation. In this acclaimed Viennese production, award-winning stage director Stefan Herheim contrasts Theodora's self-sacrifice with the lack of spiritual direction of our own times. La Folia Barockorchester and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor are conducted by the acclaimed countertenor and Handel specialist Bejun Mehta.

The Heroick Mr. Handel

Handel: Messiah

Classical Music

Classical Music

MESSIAH [HIGHLIGHTS]