Handel: Jephtha

Christophers's taut, vibrant, and beautifully sprung account is bright and dazzling, yet so often the score ought to inhabit the tortured light and shade of Caravaggio...the choruses are finely... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2015, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 1st Sep 2014
Catalogue No: COR16121
Label: Coro
Length: 2 hours 47 minutes

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Handel: Jephtha

Work length2:47:49

$45.00

$63.00

Sophie Bevan, Grace Davidson, Matthew Brook, Susan Bickley, Robin Blaze, James Gilchrist, Jephtha, Zebul
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers

Jephtha, HWV 70, Act I: Overture

Track length7:30

$1.50

$2.10

Accompagnato. "It Must Be So" - Air. "Pour Forth No More"

Track length4:17

$1.00

$1.40

"No More to Ammon's God and King"

Track length2:43

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$1.40

Jephtha, HWV 70, Act I, Scene 2: Recitative. "But Jephtha Comes" - Air. "Virtue My Soul Shall Still Embrace"

Track length4:45

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$1.40

Recitative. "'Twill Be a Painful Separation" - Air. "In Gentle Murmurs"

Track length5:01

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$1.40

Recitative. "Happy This Embassy" - Air. "Dull Delay"

Track length3:44

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Recitative. "Ill Suits the Voice of Love" - Air. "Take the Heart"

Track length3:36

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$1.40

Recitative. "I Go; My Soul" - Duet. "These Labors Past"

Track length6:40

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$1.40

Recitative. "What Mean These Doubtful Fancies" - Accompagnato. "If, Lord" - Recitative. "'Tis Said"

Track length2:00

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$1.40

"O God, Behold Our Sore Distress"

Track length4:16

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Recitative. "Some Dire Event" - Air. "Scenes of Horror"

Track length4:57

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Recitative. "Say, My Dear Mother" - Air. "The Smiling Dawn"

Track length3:43

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Recitative. "Such, Jephtha, Was the Haughty King's Reply" - "When His Loud Voice Spoke in Thunder"

Track length5:14

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Recitative. "Glad Tidings of Great Joy to Thee"

Track length1:18

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"Cherub and Seraphim"

Track length3:16

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Air. "'Up the Dreadful Steep Ascending"

Track length4:07

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Recitative. "'Tis Well" - Air. "Tune the Soft Melodious Lute"

Track length5:13

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$1.40

Recitative. "Heav'n Smiles Once More" - Air. "His Mighty Arm"

Track length5:55

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"In Glory High, in Might Serene"

Track length2:31

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Jephtha, HWV 70, Act 2, Scene III: Symphony

Track length1:08

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$1.40

Recitative. "Hail, Glorious Conqueror!" - Air. "Welcome as the Cheerful Light"

Track length4:18

$1.00

$1.40

Recitative. "Horror! Confusion!" - Air. "Open thy marble jaws"

Track length4:52

$1.00

$1.40

Recitative. "Why is My Brother Thus Afflicted?"

Track length1:08

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$1.40

Accompagnato and Air. "First Perish Thou"

Track length2:18

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$1.40

Recitative. "If Such Thy Cruel Purpose" - Air. "On Me Let Blind Mistaken Zeal"

Track length2:10

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$1.40

Quartet. "O Spare Your Daughter"

Track length3:12

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Recitative. "Such News Flies Swift" - Accompagnato. "For Joys so Vast"

Track length1:15

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$1.40

Air. "Happy They; This Vital Breath"

Track length3:50

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Accompagnato. "Deeper and Deeper Still"

Track length3:17

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"How Dark, O Lord, are Thy Decrees"

Track length7:26

$1.50

$2.10

Air. "Hide Thou Thy Hated Beams, O Sun, in Clouds"

Track length2:42

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$1.40

Accompagnato. "A Father Off'ring Up" - Air. "Waft Her, Angels"

Track length5:18

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Accompagnato. "Ye Sacred Priests" - Air. "Fairwell, ye Limpid Springs and Floods"

Track length5:33

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"Doubtful Fear and Rev'rent Awe"

Track length3:55

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Sinfonia

Track length2:39

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Recitative. "Rise, Jephtha" - Air. "Happy, Iphis, Shalt Thou Live"

Track length5:15

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Air. "For Ever Blessed by Thy Holy Name"

Track length1:01

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"Theme Sublime of Endless Praise"

Track length3:16

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Recitative. "Let Me Congratulate" - Air. "Laud Her, all ye Virgin Train"

Track length2:38

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Recitative. "Oh, Let Me Fold Thee in a Mother's Arms" - Air. "Sweet as Sight to the Blind"

Track length2:46

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Recitative. "With Transport, Iphis" - Air. "'Tis Heav'n's All-Ruling Pow'r"

Track length5:26

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Recitative. "My Faithful Hamor" - Quintet. "All That is in Hamor is Mine"

Track length3:50

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$1.40

"Ye House of Gilead, With One Voice"

Track length3:49

$1.00

$1.40

Jephtha, HWV 70, Act II, Scene 2: Recitative. "Again Heav'n Smiles" - Air. "Freedom Now"

Track length4:01

$1.00

$1.40

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About

Renowned for their Handel interpretations, Harry Christophers and his award-winning choir, The Sixteen, add to their glittering catalogue of Handel discs with this new recording of Jephtha. The Sixteen are joined by a stellar cast of soloists: James Gilchrist, Susan Bickley, Sophie Bevan, Robin Blaze, Matthew Brook and Grace Davidson.

‘It has been reckoned that Handel put more notes on paper than any other composer before or since. When he undertook Jephtha, the last new oratorio he was to write, he had composed over 40 operas, over 30 odes, oratorios and serenatas, over 100 cantatas, over 40 pieces of church music, and over 100 instrumental works. Jephtha is the harvest of his decades of penetration and expression of individual character, the human condition, the natural world and the nature of God, and for many listeners it is the masterpiece among his oratorios.’ (Ruth Smith: from her CD booklet article)

Reviews

January 2015

Christophers's taut, vibrant, and beautifully sprung account is bright and dazzling, yet so often the score ought to inhabit the tortured light and shade of Caravaggio...the choruses are finely chiselled; but the sheer polish and manicure sometimes works against the visceral immediacy of any underlying 'sore distress'...The star of the set is Sophie Bevan's Iphis.

The choral singing is exemplary, technically perfect (particularly in Handel’s coloratura runs) and with a real sense of engagement in the unfolding drama. The solo contributions are equally accomplished, none more so than James Gilchrist.

20th September 2014

Christophers draws supple singing from his expert choir, The Sixteen, and his soloists are uniformly good, especially James Gilchrist’s inward-looking Jephtha.

September 2014

Gilchrist conveys affable nonchalance in the early stages...and aptly characterises Jephtha's deepening emotional responses to the unfolding tragedy...Bevan's Iphis is endearingly naive in 'Tune the soft melodious lute'...whereas her modest resignation to a tragic doom is profoundly moving...The orchestra play excellently.

December 2014

Iphis is sung here by the radiant British star soprano Sophie Bevan in her most important recording to date...This is an unforgettable performance which all Handelians will want to hear...In sum, Christophers's considered view of Handel, devoid of extremes and eccentricities, and the work of his outstanding choir and orchestra make this a solid recommendation for anyone contemplating Jephtha for the first time.

21st September 2014

two hours of deeply profound music, beautifully performed here by Harry Christophers and his stellar cast of soloists. Sophie Bevan is dazzling as the daughter, Iphis...and James Gilchrist is simply sensational as the anguished Jephtha, breaking our hearts with Waft her, angels, through the sky.

6th September 2014

This pristine recording by Harry Christophers and his Sixteen Choir and Orchestra does almost full justice to it. My only quibble is that it projects polished urbanity rather than raw emotion, though the cast (James Gilchrist, Susan Bickley, Sophie Bevan prominent) cannot be faulted for stylishness or expressivity.

Handel: Jephtha

3 CDs

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