INKPOT#67 CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEWS: HANDEL Joshua. Various/King’s Consort/King
INKPOT#67 CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEWS: HANDEL Joshua. Various/King’s Consort/King
Georg Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
JOSHUA Oratorio in 3 Acts. Libretto by Thomas Morell, based on the Book of Joshua.Joshua JOHN MARK AINSLEY tenor Achsah EMMA KIRKBY soprano Othniel JAMES BOWMAN countertenor Caleb MICHAEL GEORGE bassThe Angel Aidan Oliver boy treble
HYPERION CDA 66461/2 2 discs [124’38”] full-price
Includes full libretto in English, French and German.
by Chia Han-Leon
Around December every year, somewhere in the world, someone would ask himself, “I gave Messiah last year, so what I shall I give this time?… oh dear, oh dear.”
Fear not – Handel was more than just the guy who wrote Messiah, Water Music and the Music for the Royal Fireworks. We shall concern ourselves now with just the oratorios, the form which Messiah takes. Of the XX he composed, Messiah is without doubt the most famous. But so famous indeed it is that it has unfairly overwhelmed the rest to the point of obscurity. Oratorios such as the beautiful Solomon, the grand Israel In Egypt, the dramatic Saul or the military might of Judas Maccabaeus, The Occasional Oratorio and Joshua – all these deserve as much, occasionally even more, attention than Messiah.
Granted that in Messiah, Handel seemed to have struck a near-perfect balance of all the best qualities of his oratorio writing, in Joshua it comes very close:
The story of Joshua contains almost everything a popular movie might desire: the hero, the war, the babe, violence, love and triumphant finale. Based on the Old Testament’s Book of Joshua, Handel’s librettist Thomas Morell compressed Joshua’s batttles against Jericho, Ai and the five Kings into one 125-minute, 3-act stretch. To balance this, he emphasised the roles of Othniel and Achsah in order to provide “romantic interest”. In his choruses with trumpets – “O Mighty Ruler of the Sky” – Handel gives new meaning to the word “majestic”
Choruses – probably the mightiest
This disc is available at, or can be ordered from, HMV (The Heeren) or Borders (Wheelock Place). You can also mail order it from MDT Classics for under £21 (including postage). But phew! the £ is so high in the clouds I can’t see it anymore…
Chia Han-Leon
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