BaL 28.09.13 - Handel's Theodora

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am Building a Library
Richard Wigmore surveys recordings of Handel's penultimate oratorio Theodora and makes a personal recommendation

Available versions:-

Freiburger Barockorchester, Ivor Bolton (DVD/Blu-ray)
Glyndebourne, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, William Christie (CD/Blu-ray?DVD)
Concentcus musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh
Junge Kantorei & Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra, Joachim Carlos Martini
Kölner Kammerchor, Collegium Cartusianum, Peter Neumann
English Chamber Orchestram Amor Artis Chorale, Johannes Somary

[verismissimo]

Shortest list in a while for Richard Wigmore to consider.

I've only ever had the ECO/Somary recording with Heather Harper etc from 1969. It's the only "non-HIP" performance in the list, although Somary was regarded as something of a specialist some 45 years ago.

I'll review it and may well decide to acquire something more recent.

[verismissimo]

No one for Theodora?

According to Wikipedia: "Theodora was actually Handel's favorite of his oratorios. The composer himself ranked the final chorus of Act II, "He saw the lovely youth," "far beyond" "Hallelujah" in Messiah."

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

No one for Theodora?

I don't know the work - so an overdue opportunity to plug a gap in my collection. (A very metaphorical "gap" - the discs are so tightly stacked together that when I take one off the shelf, three or four of its neighbours come with it and the rest of the shelf breathes a sigh of relief. But always room for one more .)

[Bamig]

Definitely worth getting to know - full of wonderful music. The Glyndebourne DVD has a great cast (Dawn Upshaw / Lorraine Hunt / David Daniels). It depends how much you like Peter Sellars productions, though....

[Gordon]

Marvellous piece!! That Somary version is what I learned it from and is probably now hors de cambat. Well worth a listen for its drama as much as the music.

[aeolium]

I didn't care for the Sellars production but Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sung superbly in it, especially the aria "As with rosy steps the morn". As well as the Glyndebourne DVD I also have Somary/ECO from a long time back and would like to hear from other versions. I'm amazed there are so few recordings though.

[Bamig]

I didn't care for the Sellars production but Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sung superbly in it, especially the aria "As with rosy steps the morn". As well as the Glyndebourne DVD I also have Somary/ECO from a long time back and would like to hear from other versions. I'm amazed there are so few recordings though.

I think 'As With Rosy Steps' is one of the most beautiful of all Handel arias. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson made a recital disc containing all of Irene's arias from Theodora, along with arias from Serse and the cantata La Lucrezia. Highly recommended - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-Arias...ne+hunt+handel

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Just bumping up this thread before the programme starts, in order to avoid confusion with next week's BaL, which I've only recently posted...

[verismissimo]

Richard Wigmore excellent, as usual.

[BBMmk2]

Listening to this now on R3. Such a great work of Handel's. Loving it!

[doversoul1]

Hurray!! It’s Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh.

Download only? Here’s the CD.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/DG%2BArchiv/4690612

[Black Swan]

I think 'As With Rosy Steps' is one of the most beautiful of all Handel arias. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson made a recital disc containing all of Irene's arias from Theodora, along with arias from Serse and the cantata La Lucrezia. Highly recommended - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-Arias...ne+hunt+handel

I have this disc and it is excellent. I have also checked and I have the Arts Florisant with Christie.
Sophie Daneman, Theodora
Daniel Taylor , Didymus
Richard Croft, Septimus
Nathan Berg, Valiens
Juliette Galstian, Irene

This was part of a boxed set of the HANDEL Edition I purchased last year. Having a listen now.

[BBMmk2]

Hurray!! It’s Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh.

Download only? Here’s the CD.
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/DG%2BArchiv/4690612

Thank you DS. I must've missed what was the one chosen. Great that it was McCreesh's. though.

[aeolium]

I thought it was a good BaL with a fair range of extracts. I'm not sure I wouldn't have preferred Christie's CD version with Les Arts Florissants from the extracts I heard, as he seemed to provide broader tempi especially in the arias than some of the other versions, particularly McGegan's. I was struck by some of the stagey and to me over-dramatised singing in the extracts from the two DVDs, notably from Dawn Upshaw (for Christie/OAE) and Christine Schäfer (for Bolton/Freiburg Baroque), though Lorraine Hunt and David Daniels were musically excellent in the Glyndebourne production. I thought RW could have made it clearer that Theodora, like Handel's other oratorios, was never intended for stage production (indeed, it was prohibited to mount staged productions of stories based on Biblical themes at that time), and that a semi-operatic approach was not really appropriate. I'd always prefer a CD version to one on DVD for that reason.