BaL 22.06.19 - Handel: Israel in Egypt

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

09.30
Building a Library: Suzanne Aspden compares recordings of Handel's Israel in Egypt and picks a favourite.
Handel was a very successful composer of Italian opera until a rival opera company split the audience for Italian opera in London. So Handel started looking for new audiences by writing oratorios in English. Israel in Egypt, along with Messiah, has texts compiled from Biblical verses. Also, like Messiah, it contains more choruses than his other oratorios. This may explain its initial lack of success. In fact, Handel revised the work, adding Italian-style arias of the kind contemporary audiences enjoyed. Today it is these very dramatic and pictorial choruses which ensure its continued popularity with choirs and audiences alike.

Available recordings:-

Susanne Cornelius, Antonia Bourvé, Tim Mead, Bernhard Berchtold, Klemens Sander, Mika Kares, Orchester der Deutschen Händel-Solisten and Chamber Choir of Europe, Anthony Bramall *

Miriam Allan, Sarah Wegener, Benjamin Hulett, David Allsopp, Steffen Balbach, Daniel Raschinsky, Hanoverian Court Orchestra, Maulbronn Chamber Choir, Jurgen Budday *

Julia Doyle, Martene Grimson, Robin Blaze, James Oxley, Peter Harvey, Stephan MacLeod, Arsys Bourgogne & Concerto Koln, Pierre Cao *

The Sixteen, The Symphony of Harmony and Invention, Harry Christophers

Susan Gritton, Michael Chance, Ian Bostridge, Stephen Varcoe, Choir of King's College, Cambridge, The Brandenburg Consort, Stephen Cleobury *

Rosemary Joshua, Atsuko Suzuki, Gerhild Romberger, Kobie van Rensburg, Simon Pauly, Thomas Hamberger, Harald Hoere, Christoph Lehmann, Max Hanft, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Concerto Köln, Peter Dijkstra

Yair Dalal, Tölzer Knabenchor, Al Ol Ensemble, L’arte Del Mondo, Werner Ehrhardt

Michael Chance, Ruth Holton, Philip Salmon, Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner *

Paul Elliott, Stephen Varcoe, William Kendall, Ashley Stafford, Daryl Greene, Julian Clarkson, Christopher Royall, Charles Stewart, Brian Gordon, Elisabeth Priday, Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner *

Julia Doyle, Maria Valdmaa, David Allsopp, James Gilchrist, Roderick Williams, Peter Harvey, Netherlands Chamber Choir & Le Concert Lorrain, Roy Goodman

Annelies Kupper, Elisabeth Fellner-Koberle, Hertha Topper, Lorenz Fehenberger, Chor & Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Eugen Jochum

Lydia Teuscher, Julia Doyle, Hilary Summers, Benjamin Hulett, Roderick Williams, Choir of The King’s Consort & The King’s Consort, Robert King

Laura Albino, Nils Brown, Jennifer Enns Modolo, Peter Mahon, Eve Rachel McLeod, Jason Nedecky, Bud Roach, Jennie Such, Sean Watson, Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon

Monika Frimmer, Veronika Winter, Heike Groetzinger, Hans Joerg Mammel, Ekkehard Abele & Gregor Finke, Rheinische Kantorei & Das Kleine Konzert, Hermann Max

Nancy Argenta, Emily Van Evera, Timothy Wilson, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, David Thomas, Jeremy White, Taverner Choir & Players, Andrew Parrott

Jill Feldman, Emma Kirkby, Emily Van Evera, Mary Nichols, Margaret Cable, Joseph Cornwell, David Thomas, Timothy Wilson, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, James Bowman, Taverner Consort & Players, Andrew Parrott

Elizabeth Gale, Lillian Watson, James Bowman, Ian Partridge, Tom McDonnell, Alan Watt, English Chamber Orchestra, Christ Church Cathedral Oxford Choir, Simon Preston *

Richard Lewis, Monica Sinclair, Elsie Morrison, Huddersfield Choral Society, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Malcolm Sargent *

Antonia Bourve, Cornelia Winter, Terry Wey, Michael Hofmeister, Jan Kobow, Konstantin Wolff, Markus Flaig, Vocalensemble Rastatt & Les Favorites, Holger Speck (SACD)

Gisela Stille, Pernile Bruun, Ulla Kudsk Jensen, Johnny van Hal, Hans Lawaetz, Jørgen Ditlevsen, Akademisk Orkester, Akademisk Kor, Morten Topp

Stephen Sands, Melissa Attebury, Jolle Greenleaf, Melanie Scafide Russell, Jonathan Woody, Matthew Hensrud, Luthien Brackett, John Bohl, Molly Quinn, Charles Wesley Evans, Daniel Mutlu, Sherezade Panthaki, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Trinity Wall Street Choir, Julian Wachner *

* = download only

[doversoul1]

This was on Through the Night on Tuesday. A great performance. But then, I wasn’t sure if I enjoyed a work/ the sound of a great triumph these days, which of course, has nothing to do with BaL.

William Christie conducts the period ensemble the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, joined by the group’s own choir, in the launch of a series of Handel oratorios to be performed over the 2017 Proms.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005sgy

Handel was a very successful composer of Italian opera until a rival opera company split the audience for Italian opera in London. So Handel started looking for new audiences by writing oratorios in English

I’m not sure if this is completely correct. I thought it was more to do with the London audience losing interest in Italian opera about this time or after this.
I/we know it’s not you who wrote it, E-A.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Handel was a very successful composer of Italian opera until a rival opera company split the audience for Italian opera in London. So Handel started looking for new audiences by writing oratorios in English

I’m not sure if this is completely correct. I thought it was more to do with the London audience losing interest in Italian opera about this time or after this.
I/we know it’s not you who wrote it, E-A.

It is rather a sweeping statement. There were thought to be several factors. Handel's rivalry with Bononcini is often mooted, but this was relatively short-lived. Oratorios were potentially better money spinners, as they were cheaper to produce. Also, they could be performed in Lent.

[verismissimo]

It is rather a sweeping statement. There were thought to be several factors. Handel's rivalry with Bononcini is often mooted, but this was relatively short-lived ...

And with Porpora …

[MrGongGong]

"The land brought forth frogs"

which obviously inspired Rejoice in the Lamb (with mint sauce) and so on

[vinteuil]

"The land brought forth frogs"

which obviously inspired Rejoice in the Lamb (with mint sauce) and so on

... well, we all like sheep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmeyG5LlFWU

.

[MrGongGong]

... well, we all like sheep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmeyG5LlFWU

.

[Pulcinella]

The soloists in the Christ Church (sic: I know you know this, Alpie ) recording are Elizabeth Gale, Lillian Watson, James Bowman, Ian Partridge, Tom McDonnell, Alan Watt.
It was recorded in Merton Chapel in 1975.
It's the only recording I have of the work; much as I like it (especially the depiction of all those plagues), I don't think I'm on the lookout for another.

[vinteuil]

.

Lydia Teuscher, Julia Doyle, Hilary Summers, Benjamin Hulett, Roderick Williams, Choir of The King’s Consort & The King’s Consort, Robert King

... this recording is of the 1833 Mendelssohn version, and for that reason interesting :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01AGKA3BO

.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The soloists in the Christ Church (sic: I know you know this, Alpie ) recording are Elizabeth Gale, Lillian Watson, James Bowman, Ian Partridge, Tom McDonnell, Alan Watt.

Thank you. List amended.

[BBMmk2]

I love this oratorio. It be interesting to see who wins. I can’t remember off hand which one I have.

[MrGongGong]

I love this oratorio. It be interesting to see who wins. .

My money is on the locusts

[vinteuil]

My money is on the locusts

... good call.

But in the end Jahweh always seems to beat the lot of them. Sad.


.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Recent thread raising some performance issues about this work http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...hursday-16-May

[verismissimo]

I first heard Israel in Egypt some 60 years ago - school chorus and orchestra - and thought it monumentally dull.

I've listened to it again (recorded) a handful of times over the intervening decades and have found no reason to amend my teenage assessment, devoted to Handel as I am.

It's mostly nicked from other Handel and a raft of contemporaries!