George Frideric Handel - Music for the Chapel Royal, Choir of the Chapel Royal [EAC-APE, covers]
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 Posted: 03-09-2007, 11:11 (post 1, #776527)

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Choir of the Chapel Royal - George Frideric Handel - Music for the Chapel Royal
Артист: Choir of the Chapel Royal
Альбом: George Frideric Handel - Music for the Chapel Royal, 2007
Издатель: Naxos / 8.557935
Жанр: Classical
Формат файла: EAC / FLAC / CUE / LOG
Ссылка: CD
Нахождение: Torrent

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759)

Music for the Chapel Royal



Performers:
James Bowman - alto
Jacob Ferguson-Lobo - boy soprano
Andrew Ashwin - baritone
Michael McGuire - alto
Maciek O' Shea - bass-baritone
Jerome Finnis - tenor
Alexander May - boy soprano


Ensemble:
Choir of the Chapel Royal
Musicians Extra-ordinary Orchestra

Conductor:
Andrew Gant

Recorded in:
St. James's Palace, London, England





This recording restores some of Handel’s finest but least-known music to the choir for which he wrote it and to the building where he performed it, probably for the first time since his own performances there. Forming one of the most impressive areas of Baroque music, Handel’s English church music spans his entire active career in London, from his first anthem composed soon after his arrival, to his last works nearly forty years later. Most of it was stimulated by Handel’s creative contact with the English Chapel Royal, a group of professional singers in a different tradition from the opera stars with whom he worked in the theatre.
While not perhaps among Handel's finest choral works, these anthems nevertheless show the composer's abundant skill with texts, dramatic flair, and abiding awareness of occasion, adapting his music to both public and private events with canny efficiency and masterful use of his performing forces. He was famous for writing for specific singers, re-writing or creating new arias, adding or subtracting instruments depending on the needs of a particular production or venue. Handel was one of the most practical composers ever, and these anthems for the Chapel Royal, where his services were employed at various times during his career, show an impressive variety of material for soloists, duets, and choruses, plus different instrumental ensembles, and an alert listener will hear many of the musical/thematic traits that became more familiar in the later oratorios and operas.
While the choir and orchestra here are very good, the soloists are a bit shaky, especially the anemic-voiced alto Michael McGuire and uneven bass of Maciek O'Shea. Even veteran James Bowman's tone occasionally lacks a solid center and fullness. For the most part, however, we can just sit back and revel in the specially appealing world of Handel's choral music, appreciating these anthems for their simplicity and grace, their melodic "rightness" and rhythmic catchiness, and these performers' obvious enjoyment in their natural singability. The sound, from--where else?--the Chapel Royal at London's St. James' Palace, is vibrant and well-balanced between instruments and voices, both a tribute to and a faithful representation of both music and period.


Specifically composed by George Frideric Handel for the Choir of the Chapel Royal at St. James Court, the four anthems presented on this 2007 Naxos release are performed by this time-honored chamber choir in its established venue, giving us a good idea of how these sacred works originally sounded. Accompanied by instrumentalists who make up the ad hoc Musicians Extra-ordinary, and directed by Andrew Gant, the men and boys sing in a pure-toned, high church style, and the ensemble's performances comport with period practices of the English Baroque. These anthems were composed between 1712 and 1726 and represent Handel's important work as a church musician, which brought him royal favor and which he pursued concurrently with his lucrative career as a composer of operas. Yet there is little of the florid Italianate style in these works, and in some ways they anticipate the later oratorios, particularly in their robust, declamatory settings of English texts and emotional directness and simplicity. The sound of these recordings is highly resonant and imbued with the "aural halo" of period instruments, though the singers are quite clearly heard, due to their small number, crisp enunciation, and minimal vibrato.


Tracklist:


Let God arise, HWV 265b
01. Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered (Chorus)
02. Duet: Like as the smoke vanisheth, so shalt thou drive them away (bass, alto)
03. Duet: O sing unto God, and sing praises unto his name (bass, alto)
04. Blessed be God. Alleluja (chorus)

I will magnify Thee, O God, HWV 250b
05. I will magnify thee, O God my King (alto)
06. Duet: O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness (bass, alto)
07. Glory and worship are before him (chorus, solo quartet)
08. Duet and chorus: Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King (bass, alto, chorus)
09. Righteousness and equity are the habitation of thy seat (alto)
10. Duet and chorus: My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord (bass, alto, chorus)

As pants the hart, HWV 251d
11. Sextet and chorus: As pants the hart for cooling streams
12. Tears are my daily food (alto, vocal quartet) - Recitative: Now when I think thereupon (bass)
13. In the voice of praise and thanksgiving (chorus)
14. Duet: Why so full of grief, O my soul (alto 1 and 2)
15. Put thy trust in God (chorus)

O sing unto the Lord, HWV 249a
16. O sing unto the Lord a new song, all the whole earth (alto, chorus)
17. Sing unto the Lord, and praise his name (alto)
18. Accompagnetto: The Lord is great, and cannot worthily be praised (bass)
19. Glory and worship are before him (bass) 02:22
20. Duet and chorus: O worship the lord in the beauty of holiness (bass, alto, chorus)
21. Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad (alto, chorus)

As pants the hart, HWV 251a (excerpt)
22. Tears are my daily food (alto)
23. Why so full of grief, O my soul (treble, alto)



MORE INFO:
naxos.com
allmusic.com
barnesandnoble.com
cduniverse.com
arkivmusic.com

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This post has been edited by kgkk on 02-12-2008, 00:03
Please take a second to encourage releaser for all his hard work, press 'Thanks' button
The following members said 'Спасибо!': yury_usa, loris
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 kgkk Member is Offline
 Posted: 03-09-2007, 11:11 (post 2, #776528)

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This post has been edited by kgkk on 02-12-2008, 00:00
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 kgkk Member is Offline
 Posted: 02-12-2008, 00:01 (post 3, #868197)

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Я залил снова ето диск :)
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