Handel - Solomon / A. Scholl, Dam-Jensen, Hagley, Bickley,

Handel - Solomon / A. Scholl, Dam-Jensen, Hagley, Bickley, Gritton, Agnew, Harvey, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Paul McCreesh
- Music
It's been conventional wisdom for several generations that Solomon, great oratorio though it may be, contains a lot of deadwood; conductors have regularly cut some items and changed the order of others. (Even John Eliot Gardiner's excellent recording cuts about 30Â minutes of music.) Leave it to Paul McCreesh to give us the complete score--and demonstrate that Handel's original structure makes plenty of sense and that every number is worthwhile. What's more, McCreesh's performance is two and a half hours of just about nonstop magnificence. You'd think nobody could surpass Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir for precision and energy, but the Gabrieli Consort & Players do it: they're wondrously vivid, responsive to nuance, and clear in their diction. (By the way, DG's recording has thrilling separation in the double choruses.) As marvelous as Gardiner's soloists are, McCreesh's are just about their equals (though Inger Dam-Jensen as Solomon's Queen lets vibrato get the better of her first aria); Susan Gritton, Paul Agnew, and Peter Harvey in particular combine beautiful sound and diction with imaginative embellishments. Then there's the title role: yes, Handel wrote it for a female mezzo, but Andreas Scholl gives such an attractive-sounding and spirited performance that any complaint of inauthenticity seems like pedantic caviling. --Matthew Westphal
Country USA
Brand DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Manufacturer Archiv Prod Import
Binding Audio CD
ItemPartNumber 028945968827
ReleaseDate 1999-07-20
UnitCount 3
Format Box set
UPCs 028945968827
EANs 0028945968827

Country	USA
Brand	DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Manufacturer	Archiv Prod Import
Binding	Audio CD
ItemPartNumber	028945968827
ReleaseDate	1999-07-20
UnitCount	3
Format	Box set
UPCs	028945968827
EANs	0028945968827

Handel - Solomon / A. Scholl, Dam-Jensen, Hagley, Bickley, Gritton, Agnew, Harvey, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Paul McCreesh

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