Handel - Susanna / Hunt, Minter, Feldman, W. Parker, J. Thomas, D. Thomas, PBO, McGegan
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CD Details
Composer: George Frideric HandelConductor: Nicholas McGegan
Orchestra: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Orchestra: U.C. Berkeley Chamber Chorus
Performer: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Performer: Drew Minter
Performer: Jill Feldman
Performer: William Parker
Performer: Jeffrey Thomas
Performer: David Thomas
Edition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 1992-10-26
Music Label: Harmonia Mundi (France)
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Part 1, Scene 1: Overture
- Part 1, Scene 1: How long, oh Lord, shall Israel groan?
- Part 1, Scene 1: Clouds o'ertake the brightest day (Joacim)
- Part 1, Scene 1: When thou art nigh (Joacim, Susanna)
- Part 1, Scene 1: Who fears the Lord may dare all foes (Chelsias)
- Part 1, Scene 1: When first I saw my lovely maid (Joacim)
- Part 1, Scene 1: Would custom bid (Susanna)
- Part 1, Scene 1: Peace crown'd with roses (Chelsias)
- Part 1, Scene 1: Without the swain's assiduous care (Susanna)
- Part 1, Scene 1: The parent bird in search of food (Joacim)
- Part 1, Scene 2: On Joacim may every joy attend (Susanna)
- Part 1, Scene 2: Bending to the throne of glory (Susanna)
- Part 1, Scene 3: Tyrannic love (First Elder)
- Part 1, Scene 3: Ye verdant hills, ye balmy vales (First Elder)
- Part 1, Scene 4: Say, is it fit that age? (First Elder, Second Elder)
- Part 1, Scene 4: The oak that for a thousand years (Second Elder)
- Part 1, Scene 4: When the trumpet sounds to arms (First Elder)
- Part 1, Scene 4: Righteous heav'n beholds their guile
- Part II, Scene 1: Frost nips the flowers (Joacim)
- Part II, Scene 1: On fair Euphrates' verdant side (Joacim)
- Part II, Scene 2: Lead me to some cool retreat (Susanna)
- Part II, Scene 2: Crystal streams in murmurs flowing (Susanna)
- Part II, Scene 2: Ask if yon damask rose (Attendant)
- Part II, Scene 2: Beneath the cypress' gloomy shade (Attendant)
- Part II, Scene 3: But hark, what sudden noise? (Susanna)
- Part II, Scene 3: Blooming as the face of spring (First Elder)
- Part II, Scene 3: The torrent that sweeps in its course (Second Elder)
- Part II, Scene 3: Away, ye tempt me both in vain (Susanna, First, Second Elder)
- Part II, Scene 4: I caught the fair delinquent (Second Elder)
- Part II, Scene 4: If guiltless blood be your intent (Susanna)
- Part II, Scene 4: Let justice reign
- Part II, Scene 5: Is fair Susanna false? (Joacim)
- Part II, Scene 5: On the rapid whirlwind's wing (Joacim)
- Part II, Scene 5: Oh Joacim, thy wedded truth!
- Part III, Scene 1: The cause is decided
- Part III, Scene 1: Faith displays her rosy wing (Susanna)
- Part III, Scene 1: Round thy urn my tears shall flow (First Elder)
- Part III, Scene 1: 'Tis not age's sullen face (Daniel)
- Part III, Scene 1: Impartial heav'n!
- Part III, Scene 1: Chastity, thou cherub bright (Daniel)
- Part III, Scene 2: Gold within the furnace try'd (Joacim)
- Part III, Scene 2: Raise your voice to sounds of joy (Chelsias)
- Part III, Scene 2 : Bless'd be the day that gave susanna birth!
- Part III, Scene 2: Guilt trembling spoke my doom (Susanna)
- Part III, Scene 2: To my chaste Susanna's praise (Joacim, Susanna)
- Part III, Scene 2: A virtuous wife shall soften Fortune's frown
Music reviews of Handel - Susanna / Hunt, Minter, Feldman, W. Parker, J. Thomas, D. Thomas, PBO, McGegan
Music Review: Intensely Pleasurable Listening - Gramophone Award
Rating: 5 Stars
George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759): Susanna. Oratorio. First performed 1749. Complete version including all the music that Handel later deleted. Performed by Lorraine Hunt and Jill Feldman, soprano, Drew Minter, countertenor, Jeffrey Thomas, tenor, David Thomas and William Parker, bass; the U.C. Berkely Chamber Choir; the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, San Francisco, conducted by Nicholas McGegan.
Recorded live in September, 1989, at the Hertz Hall at the University of California.
Harmonia Mundi 907030.32 (boxed set of 3 CDs). Total time: 2 h 58'22".
What a pity that Harmonia Mundi has deleted this first full recording of Handel's late oratorio "Susanna" from its catalogue. If, like me, you can manage to get hold of a second-hand copy, then do so by all means, for this Gramophone Award-winning set of discs is good for many hours of intensely pleasurable listening and provides insights into Handel's later style that are denied those who limit themselves to "Messiah" and "Israel in Egypt" or to his more dynamic, perhaps even blustery early works and operas. "Susanna", the story taken from a piece of Jewish writing from the 2nd century B. C. (and usually included in the "Apocrypha"), is a comparatively small-scale work with a lot of intimate writing: Lorraine Hunt, soprano, as Susanna, and Drew Minter, countertenor, as her husband Joacim, have wreaths of delightful airs in which they praise either each other or the delights of love and virtue. Both have comparatively small voices, not perhaps served particularly well by the dry and somewhat distant acoustic of this live recording, but while listening via headphones I came to the conclusion that this was, by far, the best McGegan recording I had heard to date and that the two singers mentioned were, stylistically, among the best Handel singers I have ever come across. Lorraine Hunt is wonderfully expressive, her voice seeming ideally to suit the pensive and intimate mood of this music, while Drew Minter impresses again and again with his ornamentation. The two villains of the piece, two Jewish elders who first attempt to rape Susanna and then, on being rebuffed, accuse her of adultery and have her sentenced to death, are sung by Jeffrey Thomas and David Thomas, two contrasting voices who here seem to capture perfectly the combination of perfidious hypocrisy and malevolent lust that Handel's libretto has woven into their texts. Although I am not a great fan of David Thomas's rather throaty bass, I must say that I found him here in magnificent form, ideally complementing Jeffrey Thomas, who here sounds, to my ears, a lot more convincing than on the McGegan recording of "La Resurrezione". The smaller roles are song by William Parker, bass, who acquits himself well, and by the boyish-sounding Jill Feldman, soprano, who had already captured my admiring attention on her earlier recordings with William Christie's Les Arts Florissants: here, again, I found her small but extremely pure voice to be absolutely delectable. - The relatively small contribution made by the choir is very well captured, although I found myself thinking that there was not really a comparison between the large Berkeley Chamber Choir (around 48 singers) and, for example, John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir on recordings such as "Solomon" for Philips. The smallish Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra produces beautiful music despite the lack of volume in the strings, and the harpsichord continuo (McGegan himself with Philip Brett and a continuo team) is always lively and keeps one on one's listening toes. Handel was remarkably reticent in this oratorio, and he only introduces trumpets very briefly towards the end of the third part, where they are played skilfully and accurately, something that is not always the case with natural trumpets.
All in all, a marvelous listening experience. The recordings were made live at two performances, but I only detected the slightest amount of stage or audience noise, and there is no applause at the end.
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