Handel - L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato / The Choice of Hercules(Robert King)

Handel - L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato / The Choice of Hercules /
Maurice Greene - Hearken unto me, ye holy children (Robert King)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE, LOG | Covers | Hyperion | 3cd, 877.53 MB

George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich H?ndel; pronounced [?h?nd?l]) (23 February 1685 - 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music. He received critical musical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in London (1712) and becoming a naturalised British subject in 1727.[1] By then he was strongly influenced by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

Within fifteen years, Handel, a dramatic genius, started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera, but the public came to hear the vocal bravura of the soloists rather than the music. In 1737 he had a physical breakdown, changed direction creatively and addressed the middle class. As Alexander's Feast (1736) was well received, Handel made a transition to English choral works. After his success with Messiah (1742) he never performed an Italian opera again. Handel was only partly successful with his performances of English Oratorio on mythical or biblical themes, but when he arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital (1750) the critique ended. The pathos of Handel's oratorio is an ethical one, they are hallowed not by liturgical dignity but by the moral ideals of humanity.[2] Almost blind, and having lived in England for almost fifty years, he died a respected and rich man.

Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, not only because of his Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks. But since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and original instrument interest in Handel's opera seria has revived too. Handel composed forty operas in about thirty years; some are considered as masterpieces, with many sweeping arias and much admired improvisations. His operas contain remarkable human characterization, by a composer not known for his love affairs.
from Wikipedia


Handel - L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato [1999]
Catalog Number: CDA67283/4 | 2cd, 575.99 MB

Handel's oratorios may be loaded with wonderful music, but their librettos have tended to draw some sniping. It's true that some of them can be rather banal, but others are very impressive--the biblical texts Charles Jennens assembled for Messiah and Israel in Egypt, for example, and John Dryden's ode Alexander's Feast. One particularly inspired idea Handel's colleagues had was to take excerpts from John Milton's poems "L'Allegro" (about the joys of sophisticated hedonism) and "Il Penseroso" (about the joys of contemplative solitude) and interweave them to make a sort of musical debate. At Handel's request, Jennens wrote a concluding section titled "Il Moderato," which unites the two opposing temperaments under the guidance of "Sweet Temp'rance." The result is one of Handel's most colorful scores, with such treats as a robust aria with hunting horns, a laughter chorus, a gentle duet for soprano and cello, and arias and choruses with featured parts for trumpets, organ, and even the tinkling bells of a carillon. Not to mention "Sweet bird," one of the very greatest "birdsong" arias, in which a flute imitates a bird and a soprano imitates the flute. How odd, then, that this is only the second recording of L'Allegro in 20 years. Luckily, it's a good one. Conductor Robert King and his orchestra and choir do their work well, certainly, but it's the soloists who make this performance special. Lorna Anderson does a lovely "Sweet bird" with a particularly good trill; soprano Susan Gritton sounds sweeter and more eloquent than ever; and the fabulous tenor Paul Agnew uses an amazing range of tone colors, from angelic purity to intimidating harshness. All in all, this L'Allegro is good enough to silence any grumbling about what took Hyperion so long to record it. --Matthew Westphal

Tracklisting:
CD1
1. OVERTURE [Grave]: Allegro - Lentement - Allegro Moderato
2. PART ONE. Accompagnato: Hence, loathed Melancholy
3. Accompagnato: Hence, vain deluding Joys
4. Air: Come, thou goddess fair and free
5. Air: Come rather, goddess, sage and holy
6. Air & Chorus: Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee
7. Air & Chorus: Come and trip it as you go
8. Accompagnato: Come, pensive nun, devout and pure
9. Air: Come, but keep thy wonted state
10. Accompagnato & Chorus: There, held in holy passion still
11. Recitative: Hence, loathed Melancholy

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