Handel, Scarlatti, Vivaldi,
Geminiani: The English Concert, Andrew
Manze (Director/Violin), Mark Padmore (Tenor), Alison
McGillivray (Cello). Wigmore Hall,
London,
30. 09.20 06 (GD)
This
concert was the second of two focusing mainly on Handel
but emphasizing the influence of his mostly Italian contemporaries.
The concerts gave us a rare chance to sample a well chosen
range of splendid tenor arias from Handel’s theatrical
works, all sung most idiomatically by Mark Padmore. Handel,
throughout his life was a frequent visitor to Italy (particularly
Rome, Naples and Venice) and there are many cross-references
to the ‘Italian’ style in his works. Handel greatly admired
and was deeply indebted to Corelli and Domenico Scarlatti.
We are not absolutely sure whether or not Handel actually
met Vivaldi, who was certainly working in Venice when
Handel produced ‘Agrippina’ there in 1709. It is virtually
inconceivable that they never met. Opinions vary on how
much Vivaldi influenced Handel, and vice-versa. I tend
to think that there is considerable indebtedness/influence
between both composers. One only has to listen to Handel’s
Latin Motet ‘Silente venti’, or the Concerto Grosso opus
6, no 10, or certain arias from Vivaldi’s magnificent
opera ‘Orlando furioso’, to hear the influence of one
composer on the other.
Andrew Manze and his superb ‘English Concert’ offered
a fascinating range of different styles, convergences,
and contrasts in the works he chose tonight. The concert
opened with Domenico Scarlatti’s Concerto Grosso no. 1
(arranged by the English organist and musical theorist
Charles Avison (1709-1770). Some of these arrangements
Avison transcribed from Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas,
as in this case. Scarlatti is known to have transcribed
from his own and other composers' scores, as was general
practice in the 18th Century. Avison, who made
a study of Scarlatti’s output, arranged with consummate
skill, especially in the two-part violin writing. Here
and throughout the concert Andrew Manze played the concertante
violin parts with incredible alacrity and musical virtuosity,
while never becoming a soloist, never upstaging the orchestra,
remaining very much part of the ensemble, as would undoubtedly
have been the case in Scarlatti’s day.
Handel produced ‘Semele’ (not really an oratorio or an
opera, more a rapprochement between the two) at Covent
Garden in 1707 and cast the great English tenor John Beard
in the role of the amorous Jupiter, who is alarmed that
his latest trophy girlfriend (the mortal Semele) is pursuing
the dangerous ambition to become immortal. Jupiter transports
Semele to an Arcadian paradise, where he seductively soothes
her with ‘Where’er you walk’ which became a Handel ‘favourite’
soon after its first performance. Although mythology makes
us suspicious of Gods taking mortal mistresses, Jupiter’s
‘Come to my arms’ is beautifully serene and graceful music
denoting an uncharacteristic sincerity. Mark Padmore and
the orchestra played in perfect accord and were able to
change style to the more Italianate baroque flourishes
of ‘Enjoy the sweet Elysian grove’ from ‘Alceste’
(written in 1750 but never performed as ‘Alceste’ in Handel’s
lifetime) The first half of the concert concluded with
Vivaldi’s relatively early violin concerto in A minor,
op 4 no 4. It is quite amazing that both Handel and Vivaldi
could produce such superb music at a very young age. This
quasi (concertante) violin concerto counterpoises baroque
solo violin swift arpeggios with superbly composed four-part
answering sections in the strings, all delivered with
consummate artistry and conviction by Manze and the orchestra.
Handel produced ‘Samson’ (again an oratorio with a distinct
operatic feel) in 1743 for Covent Garden. The libretto
is loosely based on Milton’s ‘Samson Agonistes’, which
Handel admired. The three superbly linked arias offered
deal with the quasi-philosophical themes of light, desire,
vision and blindness. ‘Total eclipse’ almost pre-figures
Florestan’s ‘Dungeon scene’ from ‘Fidelio’ in its allegory
of blindness and despair. Then we heard the poignant ‘Your
charms to ruin led the way’, a warning to the deceptions
of immediate, sexual desire…Dalila’s sexual allure is
made both culpable, dangerous, but also fondly remembered
(envisioned) by Samson. The arias from ‘Samson’ concluded
with ‘Let but that spirit… Thus when the sun’ where Samson,
reconciled with Jehovah, sees again after destroying the
Temple of Dagon. Again Padmore adjusted his wide ranging
voice to suit the subtle musical differences of each aria.
Alison McGillivray gave us a beautifully contoured reading
of Geminiani’s improvisatory Sonata for cello. op. 5 no.
1 as a more meditative interlude. Handel knew Geminiani
(who also lived in London from 1714) quite well and in
all likelihood heard and new this piece.
The concert officially ended with the bravura aria ‘Anch’io
pugnar sapro’ from ‘Partenope’ (first performed in London
in 1730) which is an allegory on the amorous goings-on
of ‘Partenope’ (the Queen of Naples). This contrasted
well with the concluding two arias from Handel’s 1724
opera ‘Tamerlano’, one of his truly great operas. The
libretto is partly based on Racine’s drama on ‘Bajazet’,
the Ottoman emperor who Tamerlano (Tamburlaine) has captured
and imprisoned. Bejazet cannot bear the separation from
his beloved daughter Asteria and contemplates suicide,
‘Forte e lieto’. In ‘Oh sempre avversi dei,’ a great quasi-dramatic
recitative Bajazet takes the lethal poison, imagines a
reunion in heaven with his idealized daughter and curses
the tyrant Tamerlano. Padmore delivered this with a dramatic
conviction which was genuinely moving, as the suicide
scene ends in the abrubt silence of death. Although Padmore
sang all the Italian arias with vocal perception and the
right dramatic inflection, I did feel that at times his
Italian pronunciation could have been more clearly delineated.
Manze and his ensemble revelled in Handel’s opulently
inventive orchestral accompaniment especially in the two
arias from ‘Tamerlano’.
As an encore Padmore sung 'Waft her angels' from the third
act of ‘Jephtha’, one in a series of late, great oratorios
from Handel, with just the right touch of grace and lyricism,
with superbly registered sotto voce vocal articulation.
Overall a marvellously inventive and superbly programmed
concert. I would very much like to hear Manze directing
a complete Handel, Vivaldi, or indeed Scarlatti (Alessandro
and/or Domenico) opera/music drama.
Geoff Diggines
