Handel: The Triumph of Time and Truth
Matthew Westphal
Hello all -
I’ve finally been able to review last fall’s release of The Triumph of
Time and Truth - and it would get my vote for Handel Sleeper of 1999.
As you may know, this is both Handel’s first and last oratorio. An
allegory on the transience of beauty and worldly pleasure, the
oratorio’s first version (using only four singers, a chamber orchestra
and an Italian text) was composed in 1707 for an audience of Roman
cardinals and aristocrats. He revived it twice during his career,
making major revisions each time; the final version, (using five
soloists plus choir, a somewhat larger orchestra and an English text)
was performed in 1758, the year Handel died, for an audience of wealthy
bourgeois Anglicans.
The final version is still available in an excellent 1982 recording
(cast: Gillian Fisher, Emma Kirkby, Charles brett, Ian Partridge,
Stephen Varcoe); this release presents the 1707 original version, with
the arias in Italian and the recitatives translated into English for an
American audience. And yes, Sandra, this album *does* include "Lascia
ch’io pianga" – here with the text "Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa; tu
vai cercando il tuo dolor!" The recording grew out of performances at
the 1998 Aston Magna festival, a summer baroque music festival in rural
Massachusetts. The musicians are almost all based in the Boston area
and tend not to do a lot of work elsewhere. That’s a shame – their
work here is marvelous, the best I’ve heard from any of them. Tenor
William Hite (Truth) has often left me cold in the past, with a voice
of appropriate size and light timbre for HIP Baroque performance but
seeming not to put out any more than just the notes; his performance
here, however, sounds thoroughly engaged—and engaging. Countertenor
Jeffrey Gall, on the other hand, has always been a committed performer;
here he copes well with a contralto role that lies too low for him--
switches of register are frequent and obvious. (Drew Minter might be
able to pull this role off, but frankly, I think it’s so low that it
would be better served by a female contralto. Sorry, Flavio!) Soprano
Dominique Labelle (Pleasure) has an interesting timbre – sometimes she
sounds like a countertenor, other times like Lorraine Hunt Lieberson;
I’d say her alluring, skillful performance is worthy of comparison with
La Divina herself. (My one complaint: she sings "Lascia la spina" too
slowly for the sentiment involved – it’s as if she wishes it
*were* "Lascia ch’io pianga".) Sharon Baker (Beauty) is another singer
I used to dislike, but she’s a knockout here: glowing light tone
(sometimes she sounds uncannily like Gillian Fisher, her counterpart in
the 1982 Darlow recording, and other times like Ann Monoyios), good
diction, etc. All of the cast has impressive coloratura and
embellishments, but Baker’s are positively thrilling. This performance
ought to make her a star (though Centaur is such a small label that I
doubt it will). The orchestra’s performance is sparkling, with lovely
solo work from oboist Stephen Hammer and violinists Daniel Stepner and
Nancy Wilson. This one’s a real winner, folks.
Handel: The Triumph of Time and Truth (1707 version - Il Trionfo del
Tempo e del Disinganno)
Beauty: Sharon Baker
Pleasure: Dominique Labelle
Truth: Jeffrey Gall
Time: William Hite
Music from Aston Magna
Daniel Stepner, concertmaster and director
Centaur 2431
--
Matthew Westphal
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
rkha...@adnc.com
Matthew Westphal <matthew...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
>
> Hello all -
>
> I’ve finally been able to review last fall’s release of The Triumph of
> Time and Truth - and it would get my vote for Handel Sleeper of 1999.
...
> Handel: The Triumph of Time and Truth (1707 version - Il Trionfo del
> Tempo e del Disinganno)
Thank you for the mini-review. It's interesting to note that the
English title is not altogether faithful to the original, more subtle
meaning of "Disinganno", which is derived from "Undeceiving" (I am
tempted to say 'Undeceit' or 'Undeceivement', but these probably aren't
English words - i.e., Exposing a Deceit).
It would be interesting to see a performance of this.
Ramon Khalona
Carlsbad, California