Joachim Carlos Martini - Handel: Solomon (2006)

25 Aug, 03:24
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Artist: Joachim Carlos Martini
Title: Handel: Solomon
Year Of Release: 2006
Label: Naxos
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (image + .cue, log, artwork)
Total Time: 02:40:07
Total Size: 734 MB
WebSite: Album Preview

It's one thing to record Handel's almost unknown oratorios Nabal and Gideon; the competition is negligible and a place on any complete Handel shelf is more or less assured. It's another thing to record Handel's fairly well-known oratorios Deborah and L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; the competition is tougher and a place on the shelf has to be earned. But to record Handel's Solomon -- aside from Messiah, perhaps his best-known and most recorded oratorio -- is something else again. Comparisons with the great recordings of the past may be invidious, but they are inevitable, and unfortunately not always advantageous to the challenger.

And so it is with this recording of Solomon. Chilean-born conductor Joachim Carlos Martini clearly possess talent, a lucid baton technique, and an obvious affection for the music and under his leadership the Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra plays with style, power, and grace. But the soloists are variable and the chorus is weak. Only Nicola Wemyss as the Queen of Sheba acquits herself well, Knut Schoch is tubby as Zadok, Matthias Vieweg is weedy as the Levite, and Ewa Wolak is altogether too timid in the title role. The chorus, the Junge Kantorei, sounds tired and muffled with poor pronunciation and a heavy tone. While Martini's Nabal and Gideon are more or less mandatory, his is not the Solomon to get. For arguably the best digital Solomon, try John Eliot Gardiner's recording on Philips. Naxos' 2004 sound is clean, detailed, and deep. -- James Leonard

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