19046

George Frideric Handel - Belshazzar [HWV 61] (3xCD)
Kölner Kammerchor / Collegium Cartusianum / Peter Neumann
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 1,06 GB | MP3 CBR 320: 404 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Gold" # 332 1079-2 | Country/Year: Germany 2001
Genre: Classical | Hoster: Style: Baroque, Oratorio

From bar one, I felt an assurance and naturalness about the rhythms, a clarity and tonal richness in the orchestral and vocal texture, a stylishness of phrasing and embellishment, and a sheer zest and power of dramatic presentation that add up to a totally convincing and gripping whole. […] Neumann and his team have excelled themselves, and so has Handel, and anyone who thinks 18th-century music wanting in musico-dramatic force is urged to acquire this magnificent set without delay.

Belshazzar is one of Handel’s works that could be called a total failure at the time of its first performance. Premiered in 1745 to a nearly empty house, contemporary reports say that it was a disastrously bad performance. This oratorio never gained popularity in Handel’s lifetime, and he only performed it twice after the first performance. Yet this is no minor work. Full of great Handelian arias, and stirring choral movements, this oratorio deserves to stand among his greatest works. Drama and energy play like a flame through the pages of this work. It has everything a Handel oratorio needs: tension, excitement, and attractive melodies.

Reinhard Keiser’s Der blutige und sterbende Jesus is not only the very first German Passion oratorio but also a highly suspenseful contribution to the Passion season. Lost for many years, it is now available for listening on CD in the revised version of 1729. The dramatic and musical design of Keiser’s work is astonishing. As in the Italian oratorio type that gained currency after 1700, there is no Evangelist or other narrator, which means that the work has a purely dramatic structure. Even though Keiser’s librettist Christian Friedrich Hunold, whose pseudonym was »Menantes,« did not cite any one of the four Evangelists word for word in his adaptation of the Passion narrative, it is quite evident that the poetic elaboration is (primarily) modelled on Luther’s translation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Riceboy Sleeps is the debut studio album by ambient duo Jonsi & Alex, released on 20 July 2009. The album is an artistic collaboration between Sigur Ros vocalist Jon Thor (Jonsi) Birgisson and partner Alex Somers which features acoustic instrumental music alongside a string quartet, Amiina, and the Kopavogsdetur Choir.

Finally after 10 years I have a release in the country I live in! This is a very special project for me. It is my first album of all Standards which I had wanted to do for probably close to 20 years! My hesitation for the longest time was that all of my heroes had recorded the end all versions of these tunes and I struggled with feeling it was disrespectful to redo what had been done to perfection already. But then everybody started recording these American masterpieces and I began to change my tune, so to speak. I heard some wonderful versions sung by my contemporaries and I also wanted to jump on the Standards band wagon! With the magical arrangements written by Dori Caymmi and the comfort of my band it was so easy to sing and tell the stories of these songs. The quality of the music and lyrics is almost impossible to match now a days so it does make sense why singers are turning backwards to find great songs to sing! I am so at home with both Jazz and Brazilian music that this project was a natural for me! By Kevyn Lettau