Search - George Frideric Handel, Joachim Carlos Martini, Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra :: Handel - Gideon (Oratorio in Three Parts) / Junge Kantorei, FBO, J.C. Martini

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

DAVID BRYSON | Glossop Derbyshire England | 08/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Handel was long dead when Gideon was put together, but the demand for his special invention the English oratorio continued, so there were ways of satisfying that. Handel's pupil John Christopher Smith (ne Johann Christoph Schmidt) the younger got together with the Rev Thomas Morell, librettist of the master's last two oratorios Theodora and Jephtha, and they cobbled together a `pasticcio', made up partly of music by Smith himself and partly of recycled material by Handel. All the music by Handel here, and some of Smith's, had new words wrapped round it by Morell, the genuine new music being the recitatives and accompagnatos. It was one way of doing things, I suppose.



I want to offer a resounding vote of thanks to Naxos and the performers for this production, whatever its shortcomings. It is a bold and imaginative venture, and I recommend it cordially to all Handelians and to music-lovers interested in musical byways. Most of Handel's stuff comes from Acis and Galatea, from his Dixit Dominus and from four of his nine exquisite German arias (dating from the height of his English period). I own performances of all of these, and the German arias are very fresh indeed in my memory from the marvellous recording by Dorothea Roeschmann. There is another item from his cantata Silete Venti, which I have at least heard, and the other pieces are new to me. I suppose I have to say that the four German aria performances here do not measure up to Roeschmann's by some miles, but that is not the point of this issue, and I did not even bother to remind myself of how Acis and the Dixit Dominus are done on my other records. The performance in general strikes me as a bit of a tumble-through, but a talented one for all that. The recording of the chorus is rather recessed and cavernous at times, but in general the engineering is quite acceptable. Smith seems to me not a bad composer at all, and it is probably a good thing under the circumstances that when the great authentic voice of the master is heard most clearly, as in the choruses Lord We Seek Thy Blessing (reminiscent of the great `darkness' chorus from Israel in Egypt) and Let Jehovah by Miracle Confirm, the contrast between the respective levels of inspiration is not as stark as it would have been in a `better' performance. Morell was a very competent librettist and he really deserves a lot of credit for what must have been a tricky task. Of the soloists, I should say that the bass Stephan MacLeod is not bad at all, and the counter-tenor David Cordier is better than that, with a very striking purity of tone that I would like to hear more of.



It would have been good to be told something about the instrumentalists. In particular, was that a lute or a harp I heard in the overture? Otherwise I want to compliment the production of the booklet, in particular the essay by Keith Anderson. A non-expert craves information when it comes to a work like this, and Anderson not only supplies it succinctly but also summarises the plot, which derives from the Book of Judges and concerns yet another rebuff to the luckless would-be rival deities to Jehovah. The individual numbers are listed first by their titles, second by their sources and lastly with the full text. I am almost ashamed to say that I found myself wondering what Beecham might have done with Gideon, and I banished the thought from my mind as being rank ingratitude. What we are given here, at a very modest cost, is something that most of us were unlikely ever to hear, and something that ought to excite the interest of any music-lover possessed of even a modicum of curiosity. What I can do to support this really admirable venture is to buy it for myself and recommend it as strongly as I am able. I would have loved to give it 5 stars, with the bar lowered suitably, but I don't really think I ought to, despite nearly 80 minutes' worth of music on each disc. Still, I want to commend this issue as strongly as I can to as many music-lovers as I can.

"

A Handelian Pasticcio by John Christopher Smith the Younger

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 08/14/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Billed on its cover as an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, 'Gideon' is, rather, a pasticcio put together by one of Handel's right-hand men in London ten years after Handel's death in 1759. John Christopher Smith the Younger (as distinguished from his father, originally Johann Christoph Schmidt, a fellow musician from Halle who had come to London at Handel's request in 1716) had been a student of Handel's and had helped him in his latter years, particularly after the onset of Handel's blindness. After the composer's death the London audience clamored for still more of Handel's oratorios and Smith obliged first with a pasticcio based on the Old Testament story of Rebecca in 1764. Its success led to the preparation of 'Gideon' which was presented first in 1769.



Approximately 60 percent of the music here is Handel's, taken from various compositions and set to new words written by Thomas Morell who had written librettos for several of Handel's oratorios including 'Judas Maccabaeus,' 'Theodora'and 'Jeptha.' The rest of the music was by Smith the Younger, much of it taken from his own oratorio, 'The Feast of Darius.' The story of 'Gideon' is taken from the passage in Judges that tells of the Israelites besieged by various of their neighbors. Many of the Israelites had fallen prey to the false religion of the Canaanites and had started worshiping Baal. God, therefore, delivered the Israelites into the hands of the Midianites. The oratorio tells the story of their apostasy, their punishment, and their return to the true faith, with corresponding freedom from captivity. Gideon leads his people away from the worship of Baal and back to the worship of God. All ends with rejoicing and celebration, with Gideon the hero of the day.



Much of the music by Handel is taken from his 'Dixit Dominus,' 'La Resurrezione,' and 'Nine German Songs.' It is a little unsettling to come upon a patch of familiar music amongst so much that is unknown to the casual Handelian listener. The first of these is the very first chorus, 'Comfort us, o Lord,' which is taken from the 'Dixit Dominus' chorus, 'Dominus a dextris.' Still, the story and the music have a flow that testify to Smith the Younger's skill. The music composed by him is hard to distinguish from that of Handel. He composed all the secco and accompagnato recitatives which move the story along and since they partake of the norms of German/Italian recitative writing they are unexceptionable.



The performance here is by a group of primarily English-speaking singers accompanied by the Junge Kantorei and the Frankfort Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Joachim Carlos Martini. One must say that the soloists, chorus and orchestra all have a slightly rough-and-ready quality which simply points out that this music-making is by humans, not baroque music machines; I find it charming, frankly. The only weak soloist is the countertenor, David Cordier, whose wayward intonation grates and whose voice occasionally threatens to peter out. The booklet notes are exceptionally helpful for sorting out the musical sources of the various movements; a complete libretto is supplied.



In summary, this is probably not necessary for the casual Handelian, but will be snapped up by Handel completists. As far as I know this is a first recording of the piece.



TT=2:31:52, 2 CDs



Scott Morrison"