Joachim Carlos Martini - Handel: Gideon (2004)

27 Aug, 12:56
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Artist: Joachim Carlos Martini
Title: Handel: Gideon
Year Of Release: 2004
Label: Naxos
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (image + .cue, log, artwork)
Total Time: 02:31:56
Total Size: 714 MB
WebSite: Album Preview

Tracklist:

CD 1
Part 1:
01. Ouverture 00:03:57
02. Menuet 00:02:22
03. Recitative - Forth from the swarming East 00:01:06
04. Soli and Chorus - Comfort us, O Lord 00:03:15
05. Recitative - A man, a prophet 00:00:17
06. Accompagnato - No wonder, that ye fly 00:00:35
07. Air - Trembling with horror 00:03:03
08. Soli and Chorus - Lord, we seek thy blessing 00:03:00
09. Recitative - Westward from reverend Jordan's silver stream 00:00:44
10. Accompagnato: By doubt and shame 00:01:12
11. Air - Rise with furious Emulation 00:04:06
12. Recitative - As thus he sung 00:00:46
13. Air - Thou light of Israel 00:03:01
14. Accompagnato - Let the command suffice 00:00:52
15. Recitative - He said, and gently stretching out 00:00:59
16. Solo and Chorus - Immortal God, whose hand 00:01:39
17. Recitative - A Midian prince 00:00:31
18. Air - Mighty Belus, Midian's glory! 00:04:29
19. Recitative - This done, he with a chosen party went 00:00:59
20. Air - 'Tis time, my sons' 00:02:00
21. Recitative - Forth from the town 00:00:39
22. Duet - Sweet is conquest disapproving 00:02:44
23. Trio - Like a bright cherub 00:01:57
24. Recitative - Then bowing mild 00:00:56
25. Air - May kind angels still attend thee 00:06:35
26. Recitative - And thus the choral band 00:00:10
27. Chorus - Hail, enlivener of our cause! 00:02:16

Part 2:
28. Recitative - Triumphant to the town 00:00:52
29. Air - How sweet the rose 00:01:54
30. Soli and Chorus - Great Jehovah 00:02:52
31. Recitative - Th'assembly rose 00:00:58
32. Air - Israel's guardian, sole creator! 00:01:08
33. Recitative - Silent he march'd 00:00:54
34. Air - Hark, how the winds around 00:03:08
35. Chorus - Destroy these idols 00:01:59
36. Recitative - Gideon, preparing now 00:00:18
37. Accompagnato & Recitative - Not these imperfect rites 00:01:20
38. Air - O glorious mortal 00:05:54

CD 2
01. Recitative - At morn rose Baal's Priest 00:01:27
02. Accompagnato - No more thus loud 00:00:32
03. Trio - From the mountain's brow 00:01:27
04. Recitative - Here had contention drawn 00:00:44
05. Air - Sons of Israel, let not frenzy 00:04:19
06. Recitative - The priest still beats his breast 00:00:49
07. Air - Return! Tumultuous ruin shun! 00:03:34
08. Recitative - While yet he spake 00:00:25
09. Accompagnato - Furious revenge 00:01:28
10. Solo and Chorus - All glory be to thee, o Lord! 00:03:34
11. Recitative - Sudden the Priest of Baal 00:00:36
12. Solo and Chorus - Glorious patron! Glorious hero! 00:03:41

Part 3:
13. Recitative - Much I applaud, brave youth 00:00:48
14. Chorus - Let Jehovah by miracle confirm 00:04:04
15. Recitative - Now, while the multitude 00:00:18
16. Accompagnato - Thou sacred, high, unutterable Name! 00:00:53
17. Recitative - His pray'r was heard 00:00:13
18. Accompagnato - Once more, my God 00:00:49
19. Recitative - He spoke, and it was so 00:00:18
20. Soli and Chorus - Happy Nation 00:04:31
21. Recitative - Now each rous'd soldier 00:00:35
22. Air - Let the trumpet's sound inviting 00:04:21
23. Recitative - Let Gideon, our undaunted hero 00:00:14
24. Air - Tho' now fall'n, dismay'd 00:03:49
25. Recitative - Thanks to my countrymen 00:00:27
26. Air - From your idol gods returning 00:03:26
27. Recitative - Alarm'd by frequent 00:01:29
28. Air - In notes of joy we hail the happy day 00:06:46
29. Recitative - Ye sons of Israel 00:00:28
30. Air and Chorus - Sing and rejoyce! 00:03:31
31. Recitative - To meet the hero 00:00:37
32. Accompagnato - Ye see, that God 00:00:52
33. Duet - Sweet Peace, from Heav'n descending 00:07:19
34. Recitative - Our hearts their confidence 00:00:40
35. Soli and Chorus - Wondrous are thy works, O Lord! 00:07:25

"Gideon is an oratorio put together after Handel’s death by John Christopher Smith, son of the composer’s long-serving secretary and copyist of the same name...One thing should be made plain at once about Gideon (and this, I fear, constitutes a slap on the wrist for Naxos): the balance of materials included by the younger Smith is, on the evidence of Naxos’s own booklet, not at all as described in the blurb on the back of the box. There, we are told “The 1769 oratorio Gideon, with a new libretto by Handel’s former collaborator Thomas Morell, uses music largely drawn from Handel’s work, sacred and secular, with a lesser number of elements by Smith himself.” A careful count of the sources enumerated with admirable clarity in the booklet, however, yields a total of 21 movements taken over from Handel and 52 either newly composed for the work by Smith or drawn by him from his own earlier works. Granted, most of Smith’s contributions are shorter in duration than those from Handel, but my accounting still shows a duration of 75:17 for the Handel elements and 76:36 for those by Smith.

That said, it should be added that Smith not only makes his Handelian choices with acumen, but was himself a composer of fair accomplishment. The Handel movements tend to be much more memorable in material, more debonair in manner, and in the concluding chorus with solos, “Wondrous are thy works, O Lord,” spine-tinglingly grand, but some of Smith’s contributions, such as the chorus “Destroy these idols” that he adapted from his oratorio The Feast of Darius, and a folksy trio, “Like a bright cherub,” which recalls the vernacular style of John Gay’s runaway hit The Beggar’s Opera, are well worth hearing for their own merits. As for the Handel pieces he chose, it is clear that the younger Smith knew his way around the collection of manuscripts he had inherited from his father... Morell’s libretto, which recounts Gideon’s destruction of the idol of Baal, the defeat of the Midianites, and the miracle of the fleece, is serviceable if rarely inspired...the solo singing is good, the three sopranos and countertenor making the most positive impression, and there is some stylish embellishment." ~ Bernard Jacobson, FANFARE

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