HANDEL Oratorio Arias
Not just oratorio arias from Prague-born bass-baritone
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: George Frideric Handel
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Supraphon
Magazine Review Date: AW2013
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: SU4116-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Alexander's Feast, Movement: Overture |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Alexander's Feast, Movement: Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Messiah, Movement: Thus saith the Lord |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Messiah, Movement: But who may abide? |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Messiah, Movement: Behold I tell you a mystery |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Messiah, Movement: The trumpet shall sound |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Acis and Galatea, Movement: Sinfonia |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Acis and Galatea, Movement: I rage, I melt, I burn! |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Acis and Galatea, Movement: O ruddier than the cherry |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Acis and Galatea, Movement: ~ |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: Overture |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: O Father, whose almighty power |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: I feel the Deity within |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: Arm, arm, ye brave! |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: Be comforted |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: The Lord worketh wonders |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: Fall'n is the foe |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: Enough! To heav'n we leave the rest |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: With pious hearts |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: Sing unto God |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: Rejoice, oh Judah |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
| Judas Maccabaeus, Movement: Hallelujah! Amen. |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Adam Plachetka, Baritone Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra George Frideric Handel, Composer Roman Válek, Conductor |
Author: David Vickers
A minority of Handel recitals crash at the first hurdle, like this collection of so-called ‘Oratorio Arias’. Half of the works represented are not even oratorios (the ode Alexander’s Feast and the masque Acis and Galatea), and the two actual oratorios chosen are the most predictable and least interesting choices conceivable. Alas, no effort is taken to present an informed view of Handel’s varied English-language writing for the bass voice. Lumping together Polyphemus’s songs and solos from Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus (with ‘Revenge, Timotheus cries’ tacked on as an opener) hardly smacks of an imaginative enterprise. Moreover, the elaborate castrato version of ‘But who may abide’ radically rewritten for Guadagni is misappropriated; basses ought to perform the earlier (albeit inferior) version allocated to their voice-type instead of plunging the florid ‘refiner’s fire’ coloratura down into a quagmire.
The last half presents bleeding chunks from Judas Maccabaeus, which some might justifiably regard as the least interesting of Handel’s most popular oratorios. A jovial ‘Arm ye brave’ is less monotonous than it sometimes seems and the inclusion of a few choruses generates variation; ‘Sing unto God’ is brilliantly done. The competent music-making redeems the superficial set list to an extent: the Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra play solidly and Adam Plachetka’s rich yet supple singing is up to the task most of the time. If you want to hear a bass swagger confidently through ‘The trumpet shall sound’ or remove any trace of humour from ‘O ruddier than the cherry’, then look no further.
HANDEL Oratorio Arias
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