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Reviewer: J.
F. Weber
The Te Deum and Jubilate are
featured on the cover, but the other major work written about the same time
is also important. These were Handel’s first attempts to set English texts,
and the queen’s birthday in February 1713 occurred right after he wrote the
Te Deum and Jubilate in anticipation of the treaty of Utrecht between
England and France that ended the War of the Spanish Succession. To set
English texts, he clearly looked to Purcell as a model, as evident in the
latter’s Te Deum of 1694. These two Te Deums were performed in alternate
years thereafter until 1743, when Handel wrote the Dettingen Te Deum to
celebrate the British/Austrian victory over France at the battle of
Dettingen during the War of the Austrian Succession, a much longer setting
of the text.
The featured work is one that
I fancied long ago. I bought the first seven recordings under Mogens Wöldike
(no Jubilate), Geraint Jones (an early favorite), Dietrich Knothe, Hans
Rudolf Zöbeley, Simon Preston, Frans Lambrechts (no Jubilate), and Nikolaus
Harnoncourt (no Jubilate), all on LP, dating from 1951 to 1984. So it was an
unexpected pleasure to hear Hans-Christoph Rademann (he of Schütz fame)
bringing the latest Handelian style to music that I love. The program begins with a five-movement suite from Il pastor fido, Rademann’s choice to open the concert that is preserved on this CD. Since the opera was first performed a couple of months before the other two works were written, the juxtaposition is fitting. At the end of the suite the Ode begins with a stunning solo by countertenor Reginald Mobley, decorated with a trumpet obbligato that gets the work off to a brilliant start. The other soloists are equally pleasing. The main work is a revelation after having missed every new recording for several decades. There is a lightness and bounce that Rademann elicits from the ensemble that brings the music to life as I only imagined it. All the music is performed from new editions by Carus-Verlag. This well-filled disc will not disappoint Handelians who need new versions of the music. Highly recommended. | ||||
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