BaL 22.06.19 - Handel: Israel in Egypt

[Master Jacques]

To be fair to JEG, his early Erato recording also contained the Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline, which according to the reviewer Handel recycled with minimal changes as Part I of the original Israel in Egypt, before he decided it was simply too long, cutting Part I, the Israelites' Lament for Joseph to leave the 'standard' Novello-score 2-parter.

What I'm still not clear about is whether the Queen Caroline 'anthem', 40 minutes' worth, requires two bass soloists, thus explaining their later employment just for the duet 'The Lord is a man of war', neither bass apparently doing another stroke in the original Parts 2 and 3.

Good question: the chorus would have been small, of course, and in spite of the reviewer's rather baffling suggestion to the contrary, the soloists would have been singing in that chorus - which was of course a fully paid, professional unit.

Handel's two basses at the time were Reinhold and Waltz. They were both good, and they both needed to be used in the new work (which is in fact a patchwork of earlier Handel mixed in with music developed from other composers, notably Rameau, Erba and Zachow). It must have been fun to hear them going up against one another, in their strongly accented German English! The 1st part - taken as stated from the Funeral Anthem - only needs one of them.

[MickyD]

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

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

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I thought the Mendelssohn version sounded rather splendid this morning.

[edashtav]

Yes, clearly she doesn't want to be there - but what a nice, polite lady. Nothing much pertinent to say about these recordings, but smiling and unfailingly deferential to AMcG. Possibly the most somnolent BaL ever, on a work which is anything but that.

I just hope she won't get eaten up by frogs on her way home to Oxford, poor thing.

Spot on, this was a desultory BaL.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Good question: the chorus would have been small, of course, and in spite of the reviewer's rather baffling suggestion to the contrary, the soloists would have been singing in that chorus - which was of course a fully paid, professional unit.

I thought she made a valid point: Handel had top-class opera soloists. So even if they stepped back to reinforce the choir, this is different from expecting soloists to step forward from the choral ranks.

[BBMmk2]

I rather enjoyed this one. I might go for the winner, Andrew Parrot et al, but still happy with my later Gardiner recording. I am a Gardiner fan as well as Andrew Parrot.

[Don Basilio]

I did enjoy listening to Monica Sinclair conducted by Malcolm Sargent in "The land brought forth frogs". They don't make contraltos like that any more. Clearly a first choice for Queen of the Fairies in Iolanthe.

AMcG and his guest swooned about how beautiful it sounded. It did of course but surely that aria isn't meant to be just beautiful. It's meant to be funny.

And the romantic orchestra failed to convey the hopping sound of the accompaniment.

But I love old fashioned contraltos. Who is the Clara Butt de nos jours?

[BBMmk2]

I rather liked the excerpts that was played in the Sargent recording too.

[gurnemanz]

But I love old fashioned contraltos. Who is the Clara Butt de nos jours?

My favourites:

I adore Sara Mingardo eg

Nathalie Stutzmann eg

[Master Jacques]

I thought she made a valid point: Handel had top-class opera soloists. So even if they stepped back to reinforce the choir, this is different from expecting soloists to step forward from the choral ranks.

I disagree, and thought her remark had a trace of snobbery, as well as being inaccurate.

All choral ranks for Handel recordings nowadays are made up of first-class singers: and quite often you'll get better results using singers stepping forward from the professional choir (who know the conductor's style perfectly, and what he wants) than you do by bringing in so-called "names". I think her point lacked empathy towards choirs, how they function, and professional choristers generally. And what's more, doing it this way certain replicates the intimate, collaborative sense that Handel valued so much in his oratorios.

He was clearly having fun writing for those two, very familiar and quite competitive basses from his professional ranks! Like The Sixteen (and many other groups) today, his chorus was a choir of soloists.

[Darloboy]

Thanks Mal, they also covered the Mendelssohn arrangement performed by Herman Max & Robert King, which was excluded as being a different work. Either was recommended but the Max was slightly preferred.