Texte paru dans: / Appeared in: Early Music Today (06-08/2015)
Coro
COR16121
Code-barres / Barcode
: 0828021612121
Reviewer: Brian
Robins
I
imagine few would deny Handel’s final oratorio its place as one of his most
moving and powerfully dramatic works. It is this dramatic intensity coupled
with probing insight into the humanity of the work that lies at the heart of
Harry Christophers’ inspirational direction. In particular, the central
drama – Jephtha’s recognition that the sacrifice he has vowed to make will
be his own daughter Iphis – here takes on an almost unbearable poignancy
hardly softened by the fate of Iphis being contrived by Handel’s librettist
to become service to God, rather than death.
Beyond Christophers the hero of this performance is the choir, which brings
vivid immediacy to the magnificent choruses, singing with excellent diction
and cleanly focussed tone. James Gilchrist’s strongly projected Jephtha
develops credibly from authoritative hero to broken father, while Sophie
Bevan’s Iphis is also splendidly characterised, conveying a chaste innocent
charm that evolves convincingly to patient acceptance of her fate. Susan
Bickley’s Storgè, Robin Blaze’s Hamor and Matthew Brook’s commanding Zebul
also deserve high honours. A couple of caveats: treatment of vocal
ornamentation is inconsistent and often imprecise, while the inclusion of
harp as well as theorbo in the continuo is superfluous, making for a
curiously archaic texture. However, these are relatively minor details in
the context of what is one of the best things I’ve heard on disc from
Christophers.
