Handel: Utrecht Te Deum & Jubilate
Christina Landshamer (soprano), Anja Scherg (soprano), Reginald Mobley (counter-tenor), Benedikt Kristjánsson (tenor), Andreas Wolf (bass)
Gaechinger Cantorey, Hans-Christoph Rademann
Orchestra and choir fizz in the Te Deum and Birthday Ode but the soloists aren’t quite on the same exalted level.
Handel: Utrecht Te Deum & Jubilate
Christina Landshamer (soprano), Anja Scherg (soprano), Reginald Mobley (counter-tenor), Benedikt Kristjánsson (tenor), Andreas Wolf (bass)
Gaechinger Cantorey, Hans-Christoph Rademann
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Orchestra and choir fizz in the Te Deum and Birthday Ode but the soloists aren’t quite on the same exalted level.
About
Handel's Utrecht Te Deum HWV 278 was already enthusiastically received at its first performance in 1713 in St. Paul's in London. To celebrate peace after twelve years of Spanish War of Succession, Handel composed a captivating Te Deum and Jubilate. A British national composer was born!
The Gaechinger Cantorey, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann, performed the Te Deum at the brilliant closing concert of the Musikfest Stuttgart 2018. Christina Landshamer, Anja Scherg, Reginald Mobley, Benedikt Kristjánsson and Andreas Wolf delighted the audience as soloists. The recording begins with an orchestral suite from Handel's opera Il pastor fido, which premiered in November 1712. The Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne from February 1713, also known as "Ode of peace", points to the impending peace of Utrecht with the demand "United nations shall combine" in its final chorus.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
October 2019
Orchestra and choir fizz in the Te Deum and Birthday Ode but the soloists aren’t quite on the same exalted level.
January/February 2020
The Gächinger Cantorei is spot on in terms of phrasing and interpretation in the instrumental ensemble, and the chorus is full-bodied and just right for the sometimes massive sound that Handel requires. Their diction is, however, never impaired by this, for each note is done in all parts with equal tonal quality.
Awards Issue 2019
The 33-strong choir is too weighty for the modest choral refrains [of the Birthday Ode]…Full-bodied resonance works to better advantage in the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate. Rademann’s reliable pacing and diligent moulding of phrasing are highly effective…overall, the Utrecht canticles receive a much better collective performance than the ode does.
