Roman Triumph

On their third disc for Delphian, Ludus Baroque and five stellar soloists bring to life Handel's rarely-heard final oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth - a remarkable Protestant re-casting of a work written fifty years earlier to a text by the young composer's Roman patron Cardinal Pamphilj. The work, neglected by centuries of scholarship on account of its hybrid origins, here proves an extraordinary feast of riches, and the ideal vehicle for Richard Neville-Towle's carefully assembled cast of exceptional soloists, vigorous, intelligent chorus and an orchestra made up from some of the UK's leading period instrumentalists.

The Triumph of Time and Truth is, paradoxically, both Handel's first and last oratorio. He originally composed this allegory on the transience of beauty and worldly pleasure (with only four singers, a chamber orchestra and an Italian text) for his patron, a Roman cardinal, in 1707 when he was just 22. By 1758 the work had become an English oratorio with five soloists, full orchestra and choir. This release, which followed 1998 performances at the Aston Magna Festival in Massachusetts, presents the 1707 original version, but with the arias in Italian and the recitatives translated into English.