RECORDING OF THE MONTH
George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
Handel’s Finest Arias for Base Voice
Sibilar gli angui d’Aletto from Rinaldo HWV7a (1711) [4:50]
I rage, I melt, I burn! Accompagnato [1:21] - O ruddier than the cherry from
Acis and Galatea HWV49a (1718) [3:13]
Fra l’ombre e gl’orrori from Aci, Galatea e Polifemo HWV72 (1708)
[6:59]
If I give thee honour due [0:12] - Mirth, admit me of thy crew Air from L’Allegro,
il Penseroso ed il Moderato HWV55 (1740) [2:34]
Qual’insolita luce [1:09] - Caddi, è ver Aria from La Resurrezione
HWV47 (1708) [4:15]
Tears, such as tender fathers shed from Deborah HWV51 (1733) [2:30]
To pow’r immortal my first thanks are due from Belshazzar HWV61 (rev..1751)
[3:55]
Impari ognun da Orlando [1:11] - Sorge infausta una procella from Orlando
HWV31 (1733) [4:35]
Racks, gibbets, sword and fire from Theodora HWV68 (1750) [3:56]
Volate più dei venti from Muzio Scevola HWV13 (1721) [3:24]
Vieni, o cara from Agrippina HWV6 (1709) [1:45]
Nel mondo e nell’abisso from Riccardo Primo, Re d’Inghilterra
HWV23 (1727) [3:13]
Mie piante correte [2:50] - Cara pianta from Apollo e Dafne HWV122 (1710)
[7:27]
Revenge, Timotheus cries from Alexander’s Feast HWV75 (1736) [7:55]
Leave me, loathsome light from Semele HWV58 (1744) [3:40]
Christopher Purves (bass)
Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen
rec. January 2012, All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London
Texts and translations included
HYPERION CDA67842 [70:54]
Handel vocal recital discs have been dominated of late by music for sopranos,
mezzos and counter-tenors, and often as not duets for combinations thereof.
They have invariably struck a glamorous pose. The cover art of the booklet
for this disc, in contrast, depicts Peter Paul Rubens’ c.1609 Samson
and Delilah. Christopher Purves, soberly dressed, in black and white,
is represented only by a small photograph on page twelve. The recital is not
an obvious star vehicle: no charismatic and photogenic poses are struck. Instead,
these ‘base arias’ - the spelling is intended - reveal Purves
are something far more important than a purveyor of coloratura and flighty
roulades. He takes some of Handel’s gravest and most dignified music,
from oratorios and operas principally, and adds to it some of his most technically
demanding, to present a disc of great authority and consummate musical intelligence.
I have seen Purves on the concert platform several times and he has a strong
physical presence. Sometimes singers with this quality don’t manage
to communicate it in the studio environment. Purves, however, invariably seems
to do so. It helps that the programme has been cannily selected to reveal
not only the dramatic potential of the music but its variety as well: the
bass as buffo or as loving father, as schemer or as reflective loner.
Sibilar gli angui d’Aletto from Rinaldo reveals another
thing too, which is the consistent excellence of Jonathan Cohen’s direction
and the group Arcangelo’s very personable and individualistic instrumental
contributions. I also like all the tempo decisions. This particular aria is
taken just a shade slower than Christopher Hogwood’s tempo in the complete
Decca set of Rinaldo where Gerald Finley, a baritone, took the role
of Argante. The result is that Purves avoids the somewhat militant and hectoring
quality that Finley, albeit attractively, brought to the role. Recitatives
and accompanied passages give Purves full opportunity to display his rich
grasp of characterization. Peter Dawson was an altogether more avuncular Polyphemus,
whose O ruddier than the cherry could have been sung at the bar, pint
mug in hand. Altogether more menacing, Purves is not a giant with whom to
trifle. The piping recorder accompanying him offers an ironic commentary on
his libidinous bluster.
The earlier Italian version of Acis was Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and
in the aria Fra l’ombre e gl’orrori we hear a truly remarkable
piece of singing, as Purves negotiates a two-and-a-half octave descent, with
cruel intervals, managing to sustain body of tone throughout, not least at
the very bottom. Once again the recorder dallies up above. Yet for every aria
such as this, he presents one like Tears, such as tender fathers shed
from Deborah, a brief but concentrated example of negotiated nobility,
reserving of tone and conveyance of stillness and sublimated emotion. Stoicism,
in a word. As Zoroastro in Orlando he suggests menace in Sorge infausta
una procella. He relishes verbal dexterity, and the sound of his rolling
consonants in Racks, gibbets, sword and fire from Theodora is
not easily forgotten, He shakes the word ‘racks’ around his mouth
like a dog savaging a toy doll.
We should once again commend the accompanying players, who in Mie piante
correte provide bassoon and string textures fully worthy of the sublime
music; commend, too, Purves’ almost Sencan raptness, a true melancholy
stillness, in Cara pianta. The vitality and confidence of that old
favourite Revenge, Timotheus cries should be acknowledged, along with
its unusually slow B section. And a gentle envoi is offered in Leave me,
loathsome light from Semele which put me in mind of the more emotional
performance given a long time ago on LP by Forbes Robinson, who did a clever
thing by insinuating a da capo.
This outstandingly good disc offers a wide range of music, feeling, texture
and mood. Singer and accompanying group are perfectly matched in a sympathetic
church acoustic. Let’s hope Purves can be induced to commit more of
his Handelian repertoire to disc without too much delay.
Jonathan Woolf
This outstandingly good disc offers a wide range of music, feeling, texture
and mood.
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