G.F.Handel - Esther (1732 version)

2 CD - MP3 192 Kbps - ZIP 195 Mb


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This is a particularly welcome and important world-premiere recording. Handel composed Esther in about 1718‑20 for James Brydges, the Earl of Carnarvon (and later Duke of Chandos), using a libretto that was anonymously adapted from Thomas Brereton’s English translation of a play by Racine. This slender work, containing only six scenes, lays a strong claim to being the first English oratorio, but Handel seems not to have considered performing it for a public audience until 1732, when the entrepreneurial composer thoroughly revised the score to fit his company of Italian opera singers (including Senesino, Strada and Montagnana, who all sang in English), and enlisted the aid of the writer Samuel Humphreys to expand the drama with additional scenes (which made the oratorio long enough to fill a theatre evening, advantageously fleshed out some of the characters a little bit, and also enhanced the musical attractiveness of the oratorio). This is the historic version of Esther that launched Handel’s oratorio career in London, but it has remained inexplicably neglected in modern times.
David Vickers, Gramophone [1/2008]

contents:
Disc: 1

1 - Act 1. Scene 1. Overture. Andante - Larghetto - Allegro
2 - Act 1. Scene 1. Breathe soft ye gales
3 - Act 1. Scene 1. Watchful Angels
4 - Act 1. Scene 1. O King of kings, celestial Lord!
5 - Act 1. Scene 1. Alleluia
6 - Act 1. Scene 1. With transport, lovely queen
7 - Act 1. Scene 1. So much beauty sweetly blooming
8 - Act 1. Scene 1. Again shall Salem, to the skies
9 - Act 1. Scene 1. My heart is inditing
10 - Act 1. Scene 1. Kings' daughters
11 - Act 1. Scene 1. Upon the right hand
12 - Act 1. Scene 1. Kings shall be thy nursing fathers
13 - Act 1. Scene 2. Let me with freedom thy petition know
14 - Act 1. Scene 2. Endless fame
15 - Act 1. Scene 3. 'Tis greater far to spare
16 - Act 1. Scene 3. Pluck root and branch
17 - Act 1. Scene 3. Our souls with ardour glow
18 - Act 1. Scene 3. Shall we the God of Israel fear?
19 - Act 1. Scene 4. Jerusalem no more shall mourn
20 - Act 1. Scene 4. Tune your harps to cheerful strains
21 - Act 1. Scene 4. Shall we of servitude complain
22 - Act 1. Scene 4. Praise the Lord with cheerful noise
23 - Act 1. Scene 5. How have our sins provok'd the Lord!
24 - Act 1. Scene 5. Ye sons of Israel, mourn
25 - Act 1. Scene 5. O Jordan, Jordan, sacred tide!
26 - Act 1. Scene 5. Ye sons of Israel, mourn

Disc: 2 

1 - Act 2. Scene 1. Tyrants may awhile presume
2 - Act 2. Scene 2. Why sits that sorrow on thy brow?
3 - Act 2. Scene 2. Dread not, righteous queen
4 - Act 2. Scene 2. O heaven, protect her
5 - Act 2. Scene 2. Blessings descend on downy wings
6 - Act 2. Scene 2. I go, the pow'r of grief to prove
7 - Act 2. Scene 2. Tears assist me, pity moving
8 - Act 2. Scene 2. Save us, O Lord!
9 - Act 2. Scene 3. Who dares intrude into our presence
10 - Act 2. Scene 3. Who calls my parting soul from death?
11 - Act 2. Scene 3. O beauteous queen, unclose those eyes
12 - Act 2. Scene 3. If I find favour in thy sight
13 - Act 2. Scene 4. With inward joy his visage glows
14 - Act 2. Scene 4. Heav'n has lent her ev'ry charm
15 - Act 2. Scene 4. The king will listen to the royal fair
16 - Act 2. Scene 4. Blessed are all they that fear the Lord
17 - Act 3. Scene 1. Jehovah crown'd with glory bright
18 - Act 3. Scene 1. He comes! He comes to end our woes
19 - Act 3. Scene 2. Now O my queen, thy suit declare
20 - Act 3. Scene 2. Turn not, O queen, thy face away
21 - Act 3. Scene 2. Flatt'ring tongue, no more I hear thee
22 - Act 3. Scene 2. Through the nation he shall be
23 - Act 3. Scene 2. All applauding crowds, around
24 - Act 3. Scene 2. How art thou fall'n from thy height!
25 - Act 3. Scene 2. I'll proclaim the wond'rous story 26 - Act 3. Scene 3. The Lord our enemy has slain, Allelujah!



Esther, Queen of Persia: Rosemary Joshua, soprano
Israelite Woman: Rebecca Outram, soprano
Second Israelite: Cecilia Osmond, soprano
Mordecai: Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano
Ahasuerus: James Bowman, countertenor
First Israelite: Andrew Kennedy, tenor
Harbonah: Angus Smith, tenor
Haman: Christopher Purves, bass

London Handel Orchestra & Choir
Dir. Laurence Cummings