We now have a choice of versions of
Semele in the lowest price bracket:
Alto’s 2-CD reissue of the Somary version
(ALC2003), which first appeared on Vanguard,
and the new Naxos
on 3 CDs. The Alto version is slightly
abridged and most da capo repeats
are not taken, which mainly accounts
for the different lengths of the two
versions: 144:00 on Alto, 181:00 on
Naxos.
Apart from ‘Where’er
you walk’, Semele is one of the
least-known of Handel’s works, not for
any lack of inspiration on Handel’s
part but because it didn’t chime with
the public mood. It certainly deserves
to be better known and I am pleased
that we now have two inexpensive versions
to tempt prospective purchasers.
The Alto recording has
a cast who were all better-known in
their day than the Naxos singers are today –
Sheila Armstrong, Helen Watts, Robert
Tear and Felicity Palmer were all first-rank
soloists and the rest of the cast were
almost as well known. Add the fact
that the English Chamber Orchestra and
Johannes Somary, with many of the same
singers, made a number of recordings
of Handel oratorios, on modern instruments
but observing many period practices,
and it is obvious that his version has
a strong claim, as I made clear when
I recommended it last year: “In the
absence of a really firm front-runner,
this Alto reissue is competitive, especially
with its price advantage.” – see review.
Somary’s Overture begins
expansively but not unduly so; in the
main, the tempo here is just right,
especially in the Gavotte which concludes
it. He takes 5:59
in total, whereas Martini, whose Gavotte
is separately tracked, runs to 5:11+2:23
– really rather too ponderous in parts,
though the actual Gavotte sounds lively
enough. Matters are complicated by
Somary’s tendency to omit repeats and
Martini’s to include them, but this
impression that the new recording sounds
a shade too ponderous by comparison
with Somary runs throughout the whole
work. On my first listen-through without
making notes, my overall impression
was, in fact, that this new version
was much slower than the Somary; on
more detailed listening with comparisons,
I find that I was for the most part
objectively incorrect. Most individual
recitatives and arias are actually faster
at Martini’s hands, a reminder that
tempo is only part of the picture.
What I think was to blame
for that first impression was the quality
of the singing. Elisabeth Scholl’s
Semele just isn’t a match for Sheila
Armstrong on Alto – she makes too heavy
weather of the part by comparison.
In fact, despite her impressive CV or
resumé, as given in the booklet, I just
didn’t like her in the part. Martini
sets a brisk tempo for her set-piece
aria ‘Myself I shall adore’ but she
gets off to a poor start by swallowing
the first word and she never really
sounds as if she is enjoying herself
in this aria; her tone on the high notes
is decidedly thin.
Somary sets a steadier
pace (7:29 against Martini’s 6:47) but
Sheila Armstrong not only hits the high
notes more securely, she really does
sound as if she is enjoying and adoring
herself – and the listener responds
accordingly. Whereas with Scholl the
trills sound artificial, with Armstrong
they sound quite natural. Armstrong
does, of course, employ much more vibrato
than is normal in these post-Kirkby
times, but I’d much rather that than
the thinner tones which we get from
Scholl.
Somary’s singers are
all Anglophones with the exception of
Justino Diaz, whose English presents
no problem; Martini’s are not. Though
the diction on Naxos
is not a major problem, all things considered,
none of the vocalists sounds much more
at home than Scholl in her ‘big’ aria.
The other set-piece,
of course, is Jupiter’s ‘Where’er you
walk’. Here again Somary’s tempo is
more sedate – 6:47
for the recitative and aria against
Martini’s 1:33+3:28,
Naxos
again offering more track divisions
than Alto. Knut Schoch’s English is
much more idiomatic than Scholl’s, though
not completely unforced – there’s a
very slightly intrusive h in
‘whereher’ – and his rendition
of the aria is more convincing than
hers. Robert Tear makes a much more
credibly commanding Jupiter in the preceding
recitative ‘By my command’, adding just
the right touch of tenderness at the
end of that recit. Perhaps he treats
‘Where’er you walk’ a little too much
as a display piece at first, but the
more relaxed tempo brings real emotion,
too, especially in the reprise. Both
singers avoid over-sentimentalising
this aria without trivialising it.
If Armstrong and Tear
sound as if they are enjoying themselves
more in these set arias, that is symptomatic
of the difference between the two versions:
the performers on Alto sound as if they
are enjoying their roles and conveying
that enjoyment to the listener, whereas
everything on the Naxos version sounds
more studied. The Naxos
is advertised as a live recording, though
the only indication of an audience is
the applause at the end; paradoxically,
it is the Alto version that has more
of the liveliness which one associates
with a live performance.
Even the happy ending,
from Athamas’s aria ‘Despair no more
shall move me’ (Naxos CD3, tr. 28) to
the end of the opera sounds a little
too studied to be convincing. As with
the Semele and Jupiter, Ralf Popken
as Athamas is no match for Mark Deller
on the Somary recording: he sings all
the right notes but he doesn’t really
sound ‘inside’ the role. Klaus Mertens
as Cadmus gets only a recitative, which
he sings well (tr.29) – not much chance
to emote here. At 2:10
the Sinfonia (tr.30) really seems
to drag. Knut Schoch as Apollo makes
a better fist of his accompagnato
‘Apollo comes’ (tr.31) than he did of
‘Where’er you walk, but his promise
‘to relieve your care’ still sounds
rather studied – and was it a good idea
to get him to combine the two different
roles? Nor did I feel that the final
chorus (tr.32) sounded as happy as the
words should imply, though the applause,
faded out, seems to imply that the audience
enjoyed it.
The Somary recording
ends on a happier note, though he cuts
Athamas’s aria and Cadmus’s recitative.
The Sinfonia (Alto CD2, tr.17)
is much livelier than Martini’s; Edgar
Fleet’s Apollo really does sound as
if he will relieve all care and the
final chorus is really rousing, though
the actual tempo is very little faster
than Martini’s (Alto combine Apollo
and the Chorus on one track, tr.18,
at 4:31, while Naxos’s final two tracks
run for 1:06+3:48). If the Alto recording
had been live, the ending would surely
have been rapturously applauded.
The Naxos recording is offered
in more recent DDD sound, but the ADD
Somary recording holds its own well.
If anything, the older recording sounds
slightly more realistic: it seems to
have been improved between its Regis
and Alto reissues.
Though housed in a slim-line
case, the Alto comes complete with libretto.
I’ve commented before about Naxos
referring the prospective purchaser
to an online version of the text, which
has not always been available at the
time of review, even when I have waited
several weeks after the release date.
Such was the case at one time with Vivaldi’s
Griselda and such was the case
with this recording although it is now
avalable
. In the meantime, my
colleague Robert Hugill went ahead with
his review,
which I find concurs very closely with
my reservations, especially concerning
the title role.
If you don’t mind having
Semele slightly abridged, therefore,
the older recording has the edge, not
least in that it costs 33% less than
the Naxos.
As I said last year, until a really
clear winner comes along, it will do
very nicely. It’s the one that I shall
return to – in fact, I now warm to it
even more than I did before.
If you want something
closer to authenticity, John Eliot Gardiner’s
recordings of Water Music, Concerti
Grossi, Op.3, Israel in Egypt,
The Ways of Zion and Semele
were reissued in a 6-CD budget box last
year: Warner 2564698385, around £25
in the UK.
Brian
Wilson
see
also Review
by Robert Hugill
