Handel: Solomon

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…sleek playing from the Berlin period instrument players, though the choir sounds too slim-line for the big moments. As Zadok, Mark Padmore moves around most of the notes with skill. Sarah... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2007, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 29th Oct 2007
Catalogue No: HMC901949/50
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 2 hours 34 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

December 2007

Editor's Choice

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Handel: Solomon

Work length2:34:31

$59.00

$73.75

Carolyn Sampson, David Wilson-Johnson, Sarah Connolly, Mark Padmore, Susan Gritton
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor
Daniel Reuss

Act I - No.1 Overture

Track length6:55

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Act I, scene 1 - No.2 Chorus of Priests "Your harps and cymbals sound"

Track length3:40

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Act I, scene 1 - No.3 Air. Levite "Praise ye the Lord for all his mercies past"

Track length4:58

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Act I, scene 1 - No.4 Chorus of Priests "With pious heart, and holy tongue"

Track length4:44

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Act I, scene 1 - No.5 Accompagnato. Solomon "Almighty pow'r"

Track length3:15

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Act I, scene 1 - No.6 Recitative. Zadok "Imperial Solomon"

Track length0:32

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Act I, scene 1 - No.7 Air. Zadok "Sacred raptures cheer my breast"

Track length4:33

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Act I, scene 1 - No.8 Chorus of Israelites "Throughout the land Jehovah's praise record"

Track length3:51

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Act I, scene 1 - No.9 Recitative. Solomon "Bless'd be the Lord"

Track length0:26

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Act I, scene 1 - No.10 Air. Solomon "What though I trace each herb and flow'r"

Track length5:59

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Act I, scene 2 - No.11 Recitative. Solomon "And see my queen, my wedded love"

Track length0:41

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Act I, scene 2 - No.12 Air. Queen "Bless'd the day when first my eyes"

Track length4:52

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Act I, scene 2 - No.13 Recitative. Solomon, Queen "Thou fair inhabitant of Nile"

Track length0:43

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Act I, scene 2 - No.14 Duet. Queen, Solomon "Welcome as the dawn of the day"

Track length3:28

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Act I, scene 2 - No.17 Recitative. Solomon "My blooming fair"

Track length0:09

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Act I, scene 2 - No.18 Air. Solomon "Haste, haste to the cedar grove"

Track length2:45

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Act I, scene 2 - No.19 Recitative. Queen "When thou art absent from my sight"

Track length0:15

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Act I, scene 2 - No.20 Air. Queen "With thee th'unshelter'd moor I'd tread"

Track length2:25

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Act I, scene 2 - No.21 Recitative. Zadok "Search round the world"

Track length0:11

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Act I, scene 2 - No.22 Chorus "May no rash intruder disturb their soft hours"

Track length4:25

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Act II, scene 1 - No.23 Chorus of Israelites "From the censer curling rise"

Track length5:20

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Act II, scene 1 - No.24 Recitative. Solomon "Prais'd be the Lord"

Track length0:54

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Act II, scene 1 - No.25 Air. Solomon "When the sun o'er yonder hills"

Track length4:05

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Act II, scene 1 - No.26 Recitative. Levite "Great Prince, thy resolution's just"

Track length0:19

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Act II, scene 1 - No.27 Air. Levite "Thrice bless'd that wise discerning king"

Track length3:24

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Act II, scene 2 - No.28 Recitative. Attendant, Solomon "My sovereign liege" / Scene 3 - First Harlot "Thou son of David"

Track length1:51

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Act II, scene 3 - No.29 Trio. Solomon, two Harlots "Words are weak to paint my fears"

Track length5:17

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Act II, scene 3 - No.30 Recitative. Solomon, second Harlot "What says the other to th'imputed charge?"

Track length1:11

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Act II, scene 3 - No.31 Air. Second Harlot "Thy sentence, great king"

Track length1:56

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Act II, scene 3 - No.32 Recitative. First Harlot "Withhold, withhold the executing hand"

Track length0:11

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Act II, scene 3 - No.33 Air. First Harlot "Can I see my enfant gor'd"

Track length4:33

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Act II, scene 3 - No.34 Accompagnato. Solomon "Israel, attend to what your king shall say"

Track length1:31

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Act II, scene 3 - No.35 Duet. First Harlot, Solomon "Thrice bless'd the king"

Track length3:06

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Act II, scene 3 - No.36 Chorus of Israelites "From the east unto the west"

Track length2:54

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Act II, scene 3 - No.37 Recitative. Zadok "From morn to eve I could enraptur'd sing"

Track length0:17

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Act II, scene 3 - No.38 Air. Zadok "See the tall palm that lifts the head"

Track length5:46

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Act II, scene 3 - No.39 Recitative. First Harlot "No more shall armed bands our hopes destroy"

Track length0:19

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Act II, scene 3 - No.40 Air. First Harlot "Beneath the vine, or fig-tree's shade"

Track length6:27

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Act III - No.42 Symphony: arrival of the Queen of Sheba

Track length2:52

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Act III - No.43 Recitative. Queen of Sheba, Solomon "From Arabia's spicy shores"

Track length1:10

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Act III - No.44 Air. Queen of Sheba "Ev'ry sight these eyes behold"

Track length4:42

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Act III - No.45 Recitative. Solomon "Sweep, sweep the string"

Track length0:13

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Act III - No.46 Solo. Solomon and Israelites "Music, spread thy voice around"

Track length2:31

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Act III - No.47 Solo. Solomon and Israelites "Now a diff'rent measure try"

Track length1:53

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Act III - No.48 Recitative. Solomon "Then at once from rage remove"

Track length0:31

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Act III - No.49 Chorus of Israelites "Draw the tear from hopeless love"

Track length2:51

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Act III - No.50 Recitative. Solomon "Next the tortur'd soul release"

Track length0:15

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Act III - No.51 Solo. Solomon and Israelites "Thus rolling surges rise"

Track length3:42

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Act III - No.52 Recitative. Queen of Sheba "Thy harmony's divine, great king"

Track length1:01

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Act III - No.53 Recitative. Zadok "Thrice happy king, to have achiev'd"

Track length0:39

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Act III - No.54 Air. Zadok "Golden columns, fair and bright"

Track length3:17

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Act III - No.55 Recitative. Solomon "Gold now is common on our happy shore"

Track length0:25

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Act III - No.56 Air. Solomon "How green our fertile pastures look"

Track length2:39

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Act III - No.57 Recitative. Queen of Sheba "May peace in Salem ever dwell!"

Track length0:40

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Act III - No.58 Air. Queen of Sheba "Will the sun forget to streak"

Track length6:22

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Act III - No.59 Recitative. Solomon "Adieu, fair queen, and in thy breast"

Track length0:17

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Act III - No.60 Duet. Queen of Sheba, Solomon "Ev'ry joy that wisdom knows"

Track length2:52

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Act III - No.61 Double Chorus "Praise the Lord with harp and tongue!"

Track length4:21

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Chorus of Priests, “Swell, swell the full chorus to Solomon’s praise”

Track length3:10

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Handel was 63 years old when he composed Solomon, one of his final masterpieces.The plot is simple with Act 1 dealing with the inauguration of the newly completed temple, and ends with Solomon beckoning his Queen toward the cedar grove, where one suspects it is not just the 'amorous turtles' that 'love beneath the pleasing gloom'. Act II is based around the well known story of two women arguing over who is the mother of the new-born baby, and Solomon's sharp thinking to find a solution and Act III portrays the visit of the Queen of Sheba (also known as the Queen of Egypt and Ethiopia), and her amazement at the glory and splendour of Solomon's court.With a relatively small and diverse cast of characters (Solomon, Queen of Sheba, two Harlots, Zadok the Priest and a Levite) it falls to the chorus, as builders and inhabitants of this 'golden' city, to emphasis the grandeur and splendour of Solomon's kingdom and to literarily provide the pillars of the whole piece. These grand choruses, seven of which are in eight voice parts, add to the texture and opulence of the oratorio mirroring the glory of the court and religious intensity.

This 'perfect marriage of music and English words', as Winton Dean has called it, caused the composer serious financial difficulties in 1749 on account of the exceptional forces it required - but today, under the baton of Daniel Reuss, with an unbeatable British cast, finds a performance totally devoted to its noble cause!

Reviews

December 2007

…sleek playing from the Berlin period instrument players, though the choir sounds too slim-line for the big moments. As Zadok, Mark Padmore moves around most of the notes with skill. Sarah Connolly is articulate as Solomon, her carefully measured tone combining warmth with dynamism. Susan Gritton is graceful as Solomon's queen and striking as the First Harlot... But Daniel Reuss's conducting is slack, allowing tempos to drag.

2010

and Masques (OUP: 1959), Winton Dean advocated the excision of several arias (mainly for the priestly figures of Zadok and the Levite) and the replacement of the closing chorus by the monumental 'Praise the Lord' – a policy followed by John Eliot Gardiner (Philips), though not by the completist Paul McCreesh (Archiv – see above).
In his new recording, Daniel Reuss ditches the final chorus, though he omits just two arias, neither lamented. He also makes puzzling internal cuts in the duet for Solomon and the first harlot, and, more damagingly, the gorgeous opening number of the masque.
That said, the Harmonia Mundi recording is almost unreservedly enjoyable. Abetted by his crack period orchestra and 40-strong chorus, Reuss is responsive alike to the oratorio's ceremonial splendour and its fragrant pastoral tinta. The versions by Gardiner and McCreesh, balanced rather more in favour of the voices, generate an extra weight and sonorous magnificence in the great double choruses. But the vitality and refinement of the Berlin choir is always compelling. With terrific controlled raucousness from antiphonal wind and brass, the opening chorus of Act 2 is as elementally thrilling as it should be. At the other extreme, the Nightingale chorus, taken slowly and secretively, is at least the equal of McCreesh's in drowsy amorous enchantment.
Where the earlier recordings each have at least one unsatisfactory soloist, Reuss's solo line-up could hardly be bettered. Handel cast the role of Solomon with a mezzo-soprano.
Reuss does likewise with Sarah Connolly, who sings with glowing, even tone, ardour (in the love scene), and rapt inwardness in Solomon's two 'nature' arias. Susan Gritton makes a gently sensuous queen (her musing 'With thee th'unshelter'd moor I'd tread' a highlight) and probes the full poignancy and anguish of the first harlot's music. While yielding to Della Jones (Gardiner) and Susan Bickley (McCreesh) in sheer venom, Carolyn Sampson characterises with gusto as the second harlot, and beautifully softens her bright, vernal tone in 'Will the sun forget to streak?' The priests are in the expert hands of Mark Padmore (exemplary in his bouts of coloratura) and the gravely sonorous David Wilson-Johnson.
If you want this magnificent work complete, McCreesh's is the version to go for, while for consistently glorious Handel singing the new Harmonia Mundi recording, impressively directed by Reuss, takes the palm.

December 2007

Abetted by his crack period orchestra and 40-strong chorus, Reuss is responsive alike to the oratorio's ceremonial splendour and its fragrant pastoral tinta. …the vitality and refinement of the Berlin choir is always compelling. With terrific controlled raucousness from antiphonal wind and brass, the opening chorus of Act 2 is an elementally thrilling as it should be. At the other extreme, the Nightingale chorus, taken slowly and secretively, is at least the equal of McCreesh's in drowsy amorous enchantment. ...Reuss's solo line-up could hardly be bettered. Handel cast the role of Solomon with a mezzo-soprano. Reuss does likewise with Sarah Connolly, who sings with glowing, even tone, ardour (in the love scene), and rapt inwardness in Solomon's two "nature" arias.

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