The Cummings Files

One of the most spectacular heroes of the Old Testament is Joshua, the successor to Moses, who caused the walls of Jericho to tumble down with that city's famous trombones. The Israelites' army conquered the promised land of Canaan under his leadership. This biblical story supplies the background to Handel's oratorio 'Joshua', premiered in 1748; it was supplemented by a love story involving the young captain, Othniel and Achsah, the daughter of an elder, by the presumed librettist, Thomas Morell. Thus the composer was able to include the entire spectrum of his musical expressivity: the magnificence of tympani and trumpets, joyful and jubilant choruses, virtuoso arias and moving love duets.

On occasion of the 300th anniversary of the first performance of Handel’s Brockes-Passion in Hamburg (4 April 1719), Accent present a 2017 live performance at the Göttingen Handel Festival with Laurence Cummings conducting the Festivalorchestra Göttingen, the NDR Chor and an excellent cast of singers such as the Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer and the young German tenor Sebastian Kohlhepp (as Evangelist). Barthold Heinrich Brockes’ passion text is one of the most frequently set in the history of music and was the only German text used by George Frideric Handel as the basis for a large-scale sacred composition. The original score was lost but the surviving version, which was hand-copied by Johann Sebastian Bach, makes it possible for us to hear this 1719 oratorio today.

The new Messiah! Or so ran the breathless March, 2001 headlines trumpeting the rediscovery of Handel’s Gloria. Well, not quite. The 16-minute, seven-movement work, written when the composer was a callow 22, certainly doesn’t rank among his great works–it’s no Messiah–nor was it exactly altogether lost. It was first mentioned in print in 1983, though the three extant copies’ attribution was then dismissed as inauthentic. (The liner notes offer a short chronicle of the scholastic fury surrounding the piece.)

Born into a musical family in Wales in 1572, Thomas Tomkins became one of the most significant church musicians in England during the 17th century. In his mature years he shared his time between his duties as Choral Master at Worcester Cathedral and organist of the King's Chapel in London, and was regarded among the outstanding organists of his time. His madrigals were the most important in the English school of composition, and among his considerable output was included over 120 anthems, many of his outstanding works included in this disc of Tomkins' highlights.

With a voice described as one of the most beautiful Britain has seen in a generation (International Record Review), Elizabeth Watts has established herself among the brightest talents performing today. In this selection of rarely heard Alessandro Scarlatti arias from his cantatas, oratorios and operas, she is joined by the acclaimed period instrument ensemble The English Concert led by Laurence Cummings.

One of the satisfying approaches to programming Handel arias is to get under the skin of a few chosen characters or singers. All the arias here were composed for the mezzo-soprano Durastanti or the castrato Carestini. Two less familiar arias from Ariodante put the popular 'Scherza infida' and 'Dopo notte' into a finer sort of context than usual for such programmes.

Recording exclusively for Sanctuary Classics, the Lindsays’ extensive discography includes complete cycles of Beethoven and Bartók, and a series devoted to Haydn, Schubert and to 'The Bohemians'. In 1984 they received the Gramophone Award for their recording of the Beethoven ‘Late’ Quartets. As an enthusiast of the Lindsays, I have long admired their special affinity for the string quartets of Schubert. This four disc box set from Sanctuary Classics on their Resonance label uses previously released material and proves a fitting tribute to the ensemble’s art.

This imported CD could serve as a blueprint for how to turn two very flawed but interesting albums into something worth buying – just maximize the virtues and let them come to the surface, and hope there are enough of them; in this case there are, albeit not by too much. Part of Canadian BMG's "Guess Who X 2" reissue series, Rockin'/Flavours marks the first official CD reissue of either of these two Guess Who albums…

Before the Guess Who became one of the top album rock acts of the '70s, they were a darn good British Invasion-influenced garage band. This set features the three records they made in the mid-'60s: Shakin' All Over, Hey Ho (What You Do to Me), and It's Time for the small Canadian label Quality…