MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


 REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet AmazonUK AmazonUS


George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
Israel in Egypt HWV 54 - oratorio in three parts [119:46]
Antonia Bourvé, Cornelia Winter (sopranos); Terry Wey, Michael Hofmeister (altos); Jan Kobow (tenor); Konstantin Wolff, Markus Flaig (basses)
Vocalensemble Rastatt; Les Favorites/Holger Speck
rec. BadnerHalle, Rastatt, 14 June and 29 September 2008.
CARUS 83.423 [70:30+49:16]
Experience Classicsonline

There is much that is right about this recording. It uses an excellent edition of the work, there is a clear understanding of period style and in terms of both performance and recording it is technically satisfactory. However unfortunately I am doubtful as to whether this will be enough to attract potential purchasers given the considerable competition.  

In reviewing the recent Naxos recording of this work (see review) I commented on the vigour of Handel’s invention in “Israel in Egypt”. Listening to the present recording, whilst I am still struck by that vigour, I realise now that my view was to some degree prompted by the vigour of that performance. It is not free from fault but it does project the feeling of a live performance by performers with confidence in the work and the impact that it can make.

I am sure that if there were no competition the present recording would be warmly welcomed as filling more than adequately an important gap, and as giving at least a technically competent version of one of Handel’s finest works. However any comparisons with rivals, not only the recent Naxos version with the Aradia Ensemble under Kevin Mallon but also older recordings by, for instance, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Simon Preston, not to mention other more recent versions, show straight away what is lacking here. In short, conviction and drama. The tenor recitative starting the list of plagues near the start of Part Two may not perhaps be the most important example but it does illustrate what is wrong. It ends with the words “He turned their waters into blood”. set to a downward arpeggio with the word “blood” on an awkward low D. Most tenors nonetheless manage to produce sufficient emphasis for the crucial significance of the last word to be clear. The tenor here, however, becomes less and less audible through the phrase so that all the listener hears is that there has been a change in the waters without realizing the key importance of what they have changed to. This is not just a matter of his German accent which many of the soloists have, and which is of little importance in itself, especially given the composer’s own origins, but of a failure to project the inherent drama of the words.

That one minor example would not in itself be of great significance, but it is typical of the way in which this performance fails at points which one had thought were performer-proof. This is especially the case in Part Two, with its succession of Plague Choruses which are a gift to choirs with a sense of drama. The tempi and characterisation here repeatedly miss the mark. Admittedly Parts One and Three which are much more static in terms of their character are much more satisfactory; indeed at times are the equal of any earlier version. Nonetheless the very undramatic approach to Part Two for me is a fatal flaw.

I am sorry to have to be so negative about a performance and recording which have clearly been carefully prepared and recorded, but in the present crowded market of excellent versions of this masterpiece it cannot be regarded as being seriously competitive.

John Sheppard 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.