|
|
alternatively
CD: AmazonUK
|
George Frideric
HANDEL (1685-1759)
Alexander's Feast or The Power of Music,
HWV75 (1736)* [86:30]
Concerto in F, Op.3/4a [10:13]
Felicity
Palmer (soprano); Anthony Rolfe Johnson (tenor); Stephen Roberts (bass);Stockholm
Bach Choir; Concentus Musicus Wien/Nikolaus Harnoncourt
rec. live*, Festsaal der Freien Waldorfschule, Bremen, Germany, October
1977. ADD.
Libretto in English with French and German translations available
online.
TELDEC DAS ALTE WERK 2564 69056-2 [56:55 + 39:48] |
|
Since this recording first appeared in 1977, several excellent
versions have been added to the catalogue, notably from The
Sixteen/Harry Christophers on Coro and from John Eliot Gardiner
on Philips. The reissue of the Harnoncourt recording is very
inexpensive, with this 2-CD set on sale at around £8.50
in the UK, or as part of a 6-CD set (2564 695677) with Saul,
Apollo e Dafne and highlights from Giulio Cesare,
for around £20. The Gardiner version, reissued in 2006
on Decca 'The Originals' at around £12, is not
much more expensive, while the Coro version from 2005 may be
obtained for not much more, at around £15. How does the
reissue stand up against the competition?
The first CD opens with a determined account of the opening
of the Overture, beginning with typical Harnoncourt attack;
at first I thought that he might be emphasising the determination
at the expense of the music's other aspects, but he gives
full weight to the tenderness of the slow sections without failing
to bring out the liveliness of the conclusion. Overall, I welcomed
his decision to give the music just a little more time to breathe
than John Eliot Gardiner, with Harry Christophers splitting
the difference - 6:31 against 6:12 and 6:23 respectively.
As in Messiah, the task of getting the vocal contributions
under way falls to the lot of the tenor, here Anthony Rolfe
Johnson who, after a slightly tentative recit 'Twas at
the royal feast - can an opening recit ever be much more
than tentative? - launches into a confident if slightly lightweight
Happy pair ... None but the brave, in which he is very
well supported by the members of the Stockholm Bach Choir. I'd
be surprised if some of the members of this choir hadn't
gone on to successful solo careers. All concerned capture the
lively spring which this air and chorus deserves. The stopwatch
suggests that Christophers and Gardiner take a livelier view
of the music here, but I didn't feel that Harnoncourt was
at all sluggish.
After the recit Timotheus plac'd on high, Christophers
interpolates an orchestral piece associated with Alexander's
Feast, the harp version of the Organ Concerto, Op.4/6. Harnoncourt
and Gardiner move straight on to the soprano accompagnato The
song began from love, which preserves the narrative flow
of the music. Felicity Palmer, still a soprano in 1977, delivers
a slightly squally account of this, followed by an excellent
performance by the choir of The list'ning crowd.
Thus far the choir have acquitted themselves better than either
of the soloists: if Johnson is a little too lightweight, Palmer
is somewhat too large-toned for the ensuing With ravish'd
ears.
Stephen Roberts, the third soloist, enters in the recit The
praise of Bacchus and, with the choir, in Bacchus, ever
fair and young. His light-toned bass voice is attractive,
though it doesn't dispel memories of more 'traditionally'
deep-toned basses in this music, especially, later, in Revenge,
Timotheus cries.
Later inputs from the three soloists are on a par with these
first appearances. I was much happier with Felicity Palmer's
affective performance of He sung Darius (tr.12) than
with her earlier contributions, though even here I think this
not one of the best of her many excellent contributions to the
repertoire. Once again, Harnoncourt gives a little more weight
to this air than does Christophers and I think that it benefits;
Gardiner seems to concur. The boot is on the other foot with
the arioso Softly sweet (tr.16), though I didn't
think Palmer and Harnoncourt too rushed; here, too, Gardiner's
tempo is very close to Harnoncourt's.
Yet I still think that it's the Stockholm Bach Choir who
emerge the heroes of this recording. Their account of the chorus
The many rend the skies and its repeat (trs.18 and 20)
rounds off the first CD to excellent effect. Christophers, Gardiner
and Harnoncourt are in almost exact agreement over the tempo
of these sections, too, though Palmer and Harnoncourt again
put a little extra air around the intervening soprano air The
Prince, unable to conceal his pain (tr.19), without my ever
feeling that the tempo was dragging. Indeed, I really enjoyed
Palmer's lightness of tone here. By the end of CD1 I felt
that the virtues of this recording outweighed my reservations.
But track 2 of the second CD brings the disappointment of Revenge,
Timotheus cries. Stephen Roberts sings with great accomplishment,
but his voice is just too lightweight for this air. Oddly, the
libretto mistakenly labels it 'tenore', as if in acknowledgement
that Roberts' is a very light bass voice. (At least the
online libretto has 'basso', correctly). Stephen Varcoe
on the Gardiner recording may not be the deepest bass around,
but his voice is more powerful than that of Roberts. Michael
George, on the Coro recording, is closer still to the ideal;
he's also the only one of the three to resist the traditional
English pronunciation of Timotheus as if with a long
ei diphthong, and go for the more correct short i.
The other disappointment comes at the end of CD2, where Harnoncourt
decides to conclude with the - probably spurious - Concert Grosso,
Op.3/4a which the publisher Walsh included in the first edition
of those works, instead of the Concerto Grosso which is traditionally
associated with Alexander's Feast, indeed, which
shares its name. There would have been room for both - the second
CD is very short.
Whoever composed Op.3/4a, it is well worth hearing and Concentus
Musicus under Harnoncourt play it well, but its proper context
is in a complete performance of its fellow concertos, as on
the Hyperion Helios recording which I recommended some time
ago (CDH55075 - see review).
Harry Christophers also decides to include another work, the
Organ Concerto, Op.4/1, interpolated between Let old Timotheus
yield the prize and the concluding section of that chorus,
Your voices tune. We know that Handel composed most of
the Organ Concertos for use in performance intervals and this
concerto does have associations with Alexander's Feast,
but it seems odd to ignore the one concerto associated with
the work to the extent of sharing its name.
If you prefer to have the other two works associated with the
first performance and you're looking for the deepest bass,
go for Christophers (Coro COR16028). Only Gardiner includes
the Concerto Grosso in C, HWV318, known as 'Alexander's
Feast', which he employs to open CD2. Ultimately, therefore,
I award him the prize: Decca 'The Originals' 475 7774.
At around £12, this is not much more expensive than the
Harnoncourt, but if you must economise it's available to
download from Amazon.co.uk for £8.99. You won't obtain
the libretto, but you have to download that in the case of the
Harnoncourt recording, too. Whatever you decide, I don't
advise patronising the hopeful soul who, as I write, is offering
a used copy of the Harnoncourt recording on Amazon.co.uk for
£33.28.
The Telefunken ADD recording still sounds well and the booklet
is informative, if rather minimalist and lacking the libretto,
albeit with a direction how to obtain this online. This prints
out, as usual, too large to fold into the CD set - why don't
other companies learn from the likes of Chandos and Gimell to
offer these at the right size? You may prefer to cut and paste
the libretto from Stanford.
If you don't demand the eponymous concerto, you could do
much worse.
Brian Wilson
|
|