Offer,Handel: Saul

Florian Boesch (Saul), Jake Arditti (David), Anna Prohaska (Merab), Giulia Semenzato (Michal), Rupert Charlesworth (Jonathan), Rafał Tomkiewicz (Witch of Endor), Andrew Morstein (Amalekite)

Freiburger Barockorchester, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Christopher Moulds, Claus Guth

Whether lashing out in fortissimo melismas or whispering in pure-tone pianissimo, Boesch probes totalising extremes. Other principals match Boesch’s top quality, particularly Arditti, whose climaxes... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2022, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 25th Mar 2022
Catalogue No: 805508
Label: Unitel Editions

International Classical Music Awards

2023

Nominated - Video: Opera

Handel: Saul

Florian Boesch (Saul), Jake Arditti (David), Anna Prohaska (Merab), Giulia Semenzato (Michal), Rupert Charlesworth (Jonathan), Rafał Tomkiewicz (Witch of Endor), Andrew Morstein (Amalekite), Freiburger Barockorchester (early music ensemble), Christopher Moulds
Arnold Schoenberg Chor

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In 2009, Claus Guth staged a highly impressive 'Messiah' at the Theater an der Wien; with 'Saul', he created again breathtaking musical theater at its finest. Florian Boesch in the title role dominates the production as the ruler slipping into madness. Boesch is an elemental force that attracts attention on stage like a black hole. As David, British countertenor Jake Arditti gives a perfect presentation of the change from the innocent boy to the man who, after many dramatic events, becomes Saul’s successor. 'The pure Handel stroke of luck!' (Neue Musikzeitung). Anna Prohaska (Merab), Giulia Semenzato (Michal) and Rupert Charlesworth (Jonathan) perform convincingly the roles of Saul’s children who succumb to David’s physical and spiritual charms. The Freiburger Barockorchester under Christopher Moulds holds a finely textured balance between powerful ensemble and delicate solo passages of Handel’s score. The Arnold Schoenberg Choir’s nuanced singing - alternately exulting, admonitory or mournful - is as inspiring as the sound of the renowned period-instrument ensemble. 'Handel vividly, today, as a mirror of the metamorphoses of power'(Kurier) / 'Florian Boesch as Saul is a vocal and acting elemental force, simply an ideal cast' (Die Presse)

Reviews

July 2022

Whether lashing out in fortissimo melismas or whispering in pure-tone pianissimo, Boesch probes totalising extremes. Other principals match Boesch’s top quality, particularly Arditti, whose climaxes command a lithe, powerful core, but whose central aria, ‘Oh Lord, whose mercies numberless’, is arrestingly still.

May 2022

I’m glad to have seen and heard this Viennese production: for its engrossing individual performances, and for Guth’s dark, often wince-inducing take on a family in decay and the corrupting force of power amid ever-present brutality.

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Offer,Handel: Saul

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Offer,Handel: Saul

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