BaL 11.05.13 - Handel's Solomon

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am Building a Library
Jeremy Summerly with a personal recommendation from recordings of Handel's Solomon

Available versions:


John Cameron, Elsie Morison, Alexander Young & Lois Marshall, Beecham Choral Society & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham

Nancy Argenta, Michael Chance, Laurie Reviol, Julian Podger, Steffen Balbach, Hanoverian Court Orchestra, Maulbronn Chamber Cnoir, Jurgen Budday (download)

Carolyn Watkinson, Nancy Argenta, Barbara Hendricks, Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Andreas Scholl, Inger Dam-Jensen, Alison Hagley, Susan Bickley, Susan Gritton, Paul Agnew, Peter Harvey, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Paul McCreesh

Tim Mead, Dominique Labelle, Claron McFadden, Micheal Slattery, Roderick Williams, Winchester Cathedral Choir * Festspielorchester Gottingen, Nicholsa McGegan

Ewa Wolak, Elisabeth Scholl, Nicola Wemyss, Knut Schoch & Matthias Vieweg
Junge Kantorei & Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra, Joachim Carlos Martini

Sarah Connolly, Carolyn Sampson, Susan Gritton, Mark Padmore, David Wilson-Johnson, PIAS Kammerchor & Akademie fur Alte Musik, Berlin, Daniel Reuss

English Chamber Orchestra, Johannes Somary

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Perhaps a review of Messiah would have created a little more interest.

[MickyD]

Sorry, EA, I meant to reply but I didn't have time today. I have the Daniel Reuss version and think it very fine, but I don't know any of the others to make a comparison.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

That's OK. i was just puzzled by the lack of response when there are so many baroque enthusiasts around here.

[LeMartinPecheur]

This programme could/should inspire me! I picked up the JEG Solomon in an Oxfam for c.£3 months ago and haven't found time to play it yet

(Could do with a BaL on Ariodante for exactly the reason as regards the Janet Baker/Leppard set<doh>)

[BBMmk2]

I have JEG's Solomon. I just think that McCreesh's version, by all accounts might peep him to the winning post?

[verismissimo]

I picked up the JEG Solomon in an Oxfam for c.£3 months ago and haven't found time to play it yet...

Mine was £1.99 from a similar source, LMP. It's very good!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

That's OK. i was just puzzled by the lack of response when there are so many baroque enthusiasts around here.

I don't know this work (apart from the Breakfast Essential).



Looking forward to it - I see that the glorious Claron McFadden is involved in the McGegan set - so I might go for that in any case.

[aeolium]

I have the old Beecham recording from a long way back, and also non-HIPP Somary, but am interested in the Reuss set with its impressive cast. I expect JEG to come out on top but it should be a good BaL as the music is so wonderful (and too rarely heard in full performance).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... the music is so wonderful (and too rarely heard in full performance).

(That's my excuse, anyway! )

[verismissimo]

The excellent Reuss with Sarah Connolly etc is, aside from the single disc offering, included in the amazing 30CD Harmonia Mundi Music of the Enlightenment box at around £25 all in.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Musique-Lumi%C3%A8res-Music-Enlightenment-Limited/dp/B005BZBY1I/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1367667530&sr=1-1&keywords=music+of+the+enlightenment

[verismissimo]

JEG vs Reuss report:

Slightly to my surprise, for me JEG is the clear winner. Both have terrific soloists, but JEG is so alive.

Why is it that the arrival of the Queen of Sheba is the only well-known thing in this fabulous oratorio?

[Nick Armstrong]

JEG vs Reuss report:

Slightly to my surprise, for me JEG is the clear winner. Both have terrific soloists, but JEG is so alive.

Why is it that the arrival of the Queen of Sheba is the only well-known thing in this fabulous oratorio?

That's very interesting, v°

I know I have the McCreesh, bought when Scholl was the new big thing. I don't think I have the JEG (not with the CDs, can't check).... What colour's the box?

There is a chorus which I think is one of the best of all Handel, nay all music - "Let no rash intruder..." with a mesmerising accompaniment. I compared lots of versions at the time and seem to remember thinking that Gardiner took it a little slow, but McCreesh does it with a lightness at a slightly faster tempo which is absolutely magical. Or I may have got that the wrong way round

The success of the performance of that chorus is a real deal-breaker for me...

[amateur51]

Not a piece that I know at all, so I'll be hoping that it's not too expensive a morning ;whistle:

[verismissimo]

... I don't think I have the JEG (not with the CDs, can't check).... What colour's the box?

There is a chorus which I think is one of the best of all Handel, nay all music - "Let no rash intruder..." with a mesmerising accompaniment... The success of the performance of that chorus is a real deal-breaker for me...

My LP box is somewhere in the blue-indigo-violet part of the spectrum, Cal.

That chorus is an absolute delight. On balance, paradoxically, I think I prefer Reuss and his German chorus from RIAS, who are a touch slower than JEG.