Philharmonia Baroque, Nicholas Mcgegan

Nach dieser Produktion könnte man durchaus auf den Gedanken kommen, die Oper müsse eigentlich Teseo in Creta heissen, so beherrschend und überlegen gestaltet Wilke te Brummelstroete die Partie des Teseo! Neben ihrer Fähigkeit, sich dem Stil von Händels Musik anzupassen kommt ihre ungeheure Bühnenpräsenz und Ausdruckskraft, die sie zur alles beherrschenden Figur der Oper werden liess.

In a stunning world premiere recording, music director and conductor Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, and an international cast of French Baroque opera stars present Jean-Philippe Rameau’s original 1745 version of Le Temple de la Gloire, with libretto by Voltaire. Presented as a fully staged opera in April 2017, the three sold out performances enjoyed universal critical acclaim from some of the world’s leading publications. The original manuscript had not been performed since 1745 and is housed at U.C. Berkeley’s Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library. Originally written to honour King Louis XV and commemorate the Battle of Fontenoy, the version of this ballet héroïque that has been heard up until now is the second version which was substantially changed by Rameau to appease the King and Parisian tastes.

HENRY PURCELL'S chamber opera, "Dido and Aeneas," is plentifully represented on disk, but Nicholas McGegan's new recording, with the Philharmonia Baroque and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge is the freshest and most compelling since Andrew Parrott's magnificent account of 1981 (on Chandos). Mr. McGegan's soloists – Lorraine Hunt as Dido, Lisa Saffer as Belinda and Michael Dean as Aeneas – work wonders with the concise characterizations provided by Purcell and his librettist, Nahum Tate.

Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's account of Handel's three Water Musick Suites is as light, as lively, as grand, and as thoroughly enjoyable as any recording of the works ever made. Performed here on period instruments and in a historically informed manner, the playing here is amazingly expert and astoundingly experienced. There are no flubs from the trumpets, bleats from the horn, squawks from the woodwinds, or scrapes from the strings. Instead, every note is exactly where it should be doing exactly what it should do: providing infectiously melodic and irresistibly rhythmic performances of these well-loved works. McGegan's direction stresses the brilliance and beauty of the music by clarifying textures, polishing the colors, and bringing out the big tunes.

When the German transverse flute found its place in Italy and was accepted by the Catholic church as a suitable replacement for the proscribed recorder, Antonio Vivaldi took to it with great enthusiasm. His flute concertos mark a point of departure, coming after he had completed his 40 bassoon concertos and virtually all of the string concertos. Although some of these pieces were reworkings of material previously composed for recorder, Vivaldi came to capitalize on new techniques he learned from Ignazio Siber, the flute instructor at the Ospedale della Pietà. Of Vivaldi's 15, the 7 flute concertos presented here were freshly written for the instrument.

Apollo and Dafne tells the story of the nymph that gets turned into a laurel tree as a means of expiating her grief over the death of her lover. Strauss set the story as one of his late operas, and here you get the same deal in a third of the time. Nicholas McGegan's direction of this charming cantata keeps the story hopping along, the two protagonists sing well, and the music is delightful.

Handel’s 1736 opera 'Atalanta' concluded with a spectacular display of fireworks in its first year of performance; it has only recently been revived for the first time since the 18th century. The fireworks on this live Philharmonia Baroque recording from 2005 are of the vocal variety. The San Francisco Chronicle raved: “Magnificent… the most vibrant, exhilarating stretch of musical showmanship this organization has offered in many a long season.

…Meredith Hall, eine bildhübsche kanadische Sopranistin mit herrlicher Stimme und ausserordentlicher Bühnenpräsenz, war eine Partenope, wie sie im Buche steht. Ihr nahm man jede Äusserung und jede Aktion ab, sei es als furchtlose Regentin, als ständig umworbene, aber stets treu zu ihrem Liebhaber stehende Frau, oder als von Arsace arglistig getäuschte Geliebte.

Judas Maccabaeus (HWV 63) is an oratorio in three acts composed in 1746 by George Frideric Handel based on a libretto written by Thomas Morell. The oratorio was devised as a compliment to the victorious Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland upon his return from the Battle of Culloden (16 April 1746).

Here is Vivaldi-playing with a commendably light, athletic touch. It's so easy to make a meal out of his orchestral tuttis yet these performances inspire the music with expressive delicacy and rhythmic vitality. The programme is a colourful one of concertos for a variety of instruments, wind and strings, in various combinations.