BaL 13.01.18 - Handel: Jephtha

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

0930
Building a Library on on Handel's oratorio 'Jephtha' with Suzanne Aspden.
'Jephtha' tells the Old Testament story of the warrior who promises God that in gratitude for victory he will, on returning from battle, sacrifice the first person he sees coming out of his house. Of course, it's his beloved only daughter.
Through a dazzling sequence of choruses and solo numbers, which deliver penetrating insights into the human condition and typically subtle characterisation, Handel explores humankind's enslavement to an implacable and inescapable destiny. Handel's final oratorio is a work of huge emotive power, a summation of a lifetime's composing for the stage, and considered by many to be his masterpiece in a genre he had developed further than any other compose

Available recordings:-

James Gilchrist, Mona Julsrud, Elisabeth Jansson, Håvard Stensvold, Marianne B. Kielland, Elisabeth Rapp, Collegium Vocale Gent, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Biondi

Simon Bailey, Benjamin Hulett, Annelie Sophie Müller, David Allsopp, Kirsten Blaise, Il Capriccio, Maulbronn Chamber Choir, Jürgen Budday (download)

James Gilchrist, Susan Bickley, Sophie Bevan, Robin Blaze, Matthew Brook, Grace Davidson, The Sixteen, Harry Christophers

John Mark Ainsley, Christiane Oelze, Catherine Denley, Axel Kohler, Michael George, Julia Gooding, Academy for Ancient Music Berlin, RIAS Chamber Chorus, Marcus Creed

Nigel Robson, Lynne Dawson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Michael Chance, Stephen Varcoe, Ruth Holton, Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner

Dresden Frauenkirche & Dresden Barockorchester, Matthias Grünert

Gale, Linos, Sima, Hollweg, Esswood & Thomaschke, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Concentus musicus Wien & Mozart Singerknaben, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Margaret Marshall, Alfreda Hodgson, Paul Esswood, Christopher Keyte, Emma Kirkby, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Chorus of St. Martin in the Fields, Southend Boys’ Choir, Neville Marriner

[Richard Barrett]

Very interesting. This is among my favourite Handel works, I think I might have heard the Harnoncourt but Gardiner is the one I listen to.

[BBMmk2]

I rather like this work too. I have this as part of Decca's Handel The Great Oratorios

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

All of 2 (two) responses - well 3 with this one.

Please can we talk about repeats (or at least da capo arias). That should liven things up.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't remember ever having heard the work! (A quick check, and - no, it's not in my collection <phew>.)

So, I'll have to listen to this BaL at least twice.


(That do for "repeats", Alpie?)

[BBMmk2]

A great pity that this work has not beren discussed more. One of Handel's great masterpieces.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

So, I'll have to listen to this BaL at least twice.


(That do for "repeats", Alpie?)

[BBMmk2]

If people don't like Arias di Capo, why listen, in the first place. It was the fashion in those days to have them.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If people don't like Arias di Capo

Which recording is she in?


( - it does sound like a pseudonym, a bit like Shaw's "Corno di Bassetto"!)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

If people don't like Arias di Capo, why listen, in the first place. It was the fashion in those days to have them.

I don't think anyone said anything negative about da capo arias.. I was joking about the lack of comment on this work and its recordings, comparing the response with works where repeats were an issue to stimulate discussion.

[Bryn]

I rather like this work too. I have this as part of Decca's Handel The Great Oratorios

Looking around for a good price for this set I found a sensible one quoted by a UK based Amazon marketplace supplier. Including p&p, it was around £8 or so less than the MDT price, except it is MDT, trading as Englishpostbox.

Currently I have but one recording of the work, the Creed. Some fine soloists, chorus and orchestra. Not really likely to stand up too well against the likes of JEG and co. though.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

LCurrently I have but one recording of the work, the Creed. Some fine soloists, chorus and orchestra. Not really likely to stand up too well against the likes of JEG and co. though.

Ooh, I dunno - the excerpts from the JEGgers recording played today all sounded to me as if the conductor was sight-reading through a piece that didn't really interest him (and with a distinctly timorous tenor - Creed's was much better).

A good BaL presentation, I thought: and (again from the snippets we heard) a well-considered laureate (Christophers/Sixteen, Bbm) - but ... well, for me, the illustrations that most interested, excited and engaged me were from the Biondi recording - which has cuts and features "modern" instruments, albeit played with all due respect for 18th Century playing conventions. I shall miss the Baroque "tang" on repeated hearings, and I do want the whole work, so (if I do buy it) it will have to be a stop-gap until a complete HIPP recording more to my prejudices arrives.

[BBMmk2]

I don't think anyone said anything negative about da capo arias.. I was joking about the lack of comment on this work and its recordings, comparing the response with works where repeats were an issue to stimulate discussion.

Apologies! I see The Sixteen have won the accolade. Looks like some expense but I know Spotify have it!

[ardcarp]

A good BaL presentation, I thought:

Yes it was. I did find that when she (SA) started making her final decisions, she bandied about the expression 'old fashioned'. Fashion often plays a part in BAL. Presumably Handel's own performances (were we able to hear them) would be quite Beyond the Pale.
However both Harnoncourt and Marriner were dubbed 'old fashioned', Surely for different reasons? Marriner because he used modern instruments, 'tinkling harpsichord' (SA's words) and delayed recit. cadences; Harnoncourt because, well, his HIPP was outdated!

I enjoyed hearing excerpts from the winner (wonderful chorus work from The Sixteen, of course) but thought Marriner's version very good, not least because of Anthony R-J. Shame that wasn't recommended as the best 'old fashiooned' version.

[MickyD]

I didn't find the soloist on the Harnoncourt set 'old fashioned' at all. Mind you, it's a pity that Anthony Rolfe Johnson didn't feature on the Harnoncourt set - he did some other fine recordings with him, especially the Ode to St Cecilia.