Search - George Frideric Handel, Anthony Bramall, Orchester der Deutschen Handel-Solisten :: Handel - Israel in Egypt

4.5 stars -- a new contender for the best "Israel in Egypt"

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 08/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Until I sang this oratorio a decade ago I'd never have known it was the most antiphonal choral piece there is, with dueling choruses and violins, among others, speaking and answering each other throughout the three part re-telling of the Passover story.



For those of you not up on your Biblical history, Passover is Moses leading the Jews out of ancient Egypt and, among other places, through the Red Sea that God conveniently split it two for their safe passage. The story is full of colorful musical depictions -- God slays the first sons of Egypt, there are plagues of both frogs and locusts, a darkness falls over the land, and the horse and his rider God throws into the sea. This is, briefly stated, one of the mightiest of all oratorios.



This new recording from the ultra low priced Brilliant label -- which has been bringing us 150-CD sets of all the music of Bach, Beethoven, Shostakovich and others in recent years and re-releasing other hallowed recordings licensed to other labels -- is an international production that is correct historically in that it uses all three parts of the oratorio. For many years, the typical production used only the second and third parts beginning with "Exodus" section at the tenor aria, "Now there arose a new king over Egypt". This version includes the first section called "The Lamentation of the Isrealite for the Death of Josef" that adds an overture (called Symphony), 8 addtional choruses, a section for solo and chorus, and 2 extra solos.



This is a magnificent production in just about every respect. It appropriately uses soloists in all three parts instead of having the choir sing all the sections. The work of the six soloists -- Swiss soprano Susanne Cornelius, French also Antonia Bovre', English countertenor Tim Mead, German tenor Bernard Berchtold, German baritone Klemens Sander and Icelandic bass Mika Kares -- is always good, always stylish, and, even if they sometimes struggle a tad with English, always understandable. They won't make you forget the work of bigger name stars that inhabit Andrew Parrott's recording on Virgin Classics, but they are all professionals better than any soloists with whom I've performed.



Conductor Anthony Bramall, an Englishman, does fine work holding everything together. His is a young man's vision of "Isreal in Egypt" with tempo relationships that are often faster than Parrott. These can border on extreme, as in "And with the blast of thy nostrils" but they never cross the line into mayhem. Bramall always seems grounded in the tradtion of Handel performance and his forces adhere to modern period style (plain tone with limited or no vibrato by singers) and string playing the eschews slides and vibrato. The notes do not indicate whether or the Orchestra of German Handel Soloist uses period instruments. But, clearly, this performance is a modern pastiche with continuo accompaniment.



Best of all, this performance is a one-off from a concert performance given in Germany in February 2006. I was astonished when I first listened and heard the crowd burst into applause at the end. I was fooled into thinking this was a studio performance until that time. The sound is also magnificent -- clear, warm, broad and without undue reverberation that allows you to hear all the words all the time. An occasional patch between sections can be noted when you listen closely using headphones that neither dampens nor diminishes your enjoyment.



While Andrew Parrott's version of this masterpiece, abetted by international stars in the solo roles, still holds a place in my heart, this new recording must be considered a contender for the top spot among all versions of this oratorio. Considering it comes handsomely packaged in a sturdy tri-fold box with a 16-page booklet that explains all the text in English and German and arrives at Brilliant's unbelievably low price of less than $10, this must be the top recommendation for anyone coming to this music for the first time."

Handel at its most brilliant level

Jacques COULARDEAU | OLLIERGUES France | 11/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It starts with a dirge that matches the mourning at the beginning of the story. Joseph is dead and Handel uses all his art to express this somber episode of the history of Israel. Chorus #3, `How is the mighty fall'n' is the absolute melting into perfection of the trochaic verse, the music (notes and harmony) and the rhythm that emphasizes the trochaic beat by pouring it into the measure. The meaning is also dramatic. We find here the perfect fusion of meaning, rhythm (both musical and linguistic), harmony and dramatic rendering by the chorus. And this unity will be changed in chorus #6, with the same words but in a dirge that lengthens the unstressed syllables, that spreads out the measures, that softens the beat into a lamentation and no longer a yowl of pain. And the four voices are used to create a feeling of unity, at times a feeling of diversity, a diversity that leads to unity or springs up from unity. Fugues, canons, and all other contrastive resources are summoned by Handel to deconstruct any kind of artificial unison to reconstruct a unison that sings in the plurality of unity to represent a people and not any homogeneous mass. That use of the voices of the chorus is definitely a new way to dramatize the voices themselves that become part of the plot. But the plot is simple. The Israelis go to Egypt on an exodus of the whole people to become rich in a way, invited by Joseph. But when Joseph dies things change and the Israelis are enslaved. Moses will free them again. The second part starts with a recitative that goes back to the style of Bach's Passions, though the first part had no recitatives. There will only be two recitatives in this part, one before chorus #14 and the other before chorus #15. This enables Handel to jump directly from the prosperous Israelis in Egypt to them being enslaved and calling for some savior from God. There comes Moses and the first plague: `He turned their waters into blood'. These two recitatives are thus the perfect ellipse that enables Handel to jump over centuries from one period of glory to the liberation that comes after the enslavement. That also enables the whole opera to be centered on Joseph in the first part and on Moses in the second and third parts. Handel uses another practical trick, a castrato, today a male alto, to sing the second (frogs) and third (pestilence) plagues. Handel was using castrati for his male heroes. Here the alto is not one particular character but he is the tool of liberation for the Israelis. And thus he becomes the voice of God, and the voice of Moses. The chorus takes over for the flies, lice and locusts. The chorus dedicated to the hailstones is brilliantly brilliant, powerful and majestic like some court music for one great event. And the next chorus for darkness is a genial change towards a tenebrae, a death dirge. These successive choruses for various plagues show the great flexibility of Handel's art. The violence of female voices and the cutting and bludgeoning music for the first-born is an image of pure agony for the babies and joy for the Israelis. An image of absolute power with two tempos superimposed: the deadly one, slow and strong, and in between these beats a more fluent and quick rhythm as if the first rhythm was slicing the second into tidbits of nothingness. The next chorus makes Moses take his people out. It is sweeping vast in many ways and yet a little bit hesitant till the chorus finds some unison and some direction as if the force necessary for the escape was built by Moses in the people slowly but resolutely. And the Red Sea is parted by chorus #23 that splits the first sentence between power and silence on one side and smoothness on the other, opposing the rebuking of the sea and the dry soil at the bottom. Then the chorus brings the rejoicing people across in a fast nearly frenetic march between the two halves of this rebuked Red Sea. This second part can end on a vision of the greatness of God and the wisdom of the Israelis who can see this greatness. There unison is necessary, but at once the voices become free again and they start a vocal ballet that creates, builds up the unity of the people. The third part is entirely dedicated to Moses' song. And Handel innovates anew. He alternates the chorus with 3 duets and 3 arias of the four voices: a soprano duet, a bass duet, a tenor aria, a soprano aria, an alto and tenor duet, an alto aria and the soprano with the chorus. These arias and duets are lauding the Lord. He is Moses' strength, salvation, he is a man of war. Then the blood-lust of the enemy and then their defeat in the breath of God. God is the liberator and redeemer of his people. The heritage of the Lord is his temple, the temple contains the heritage of God, the Tables of the Covenant. The first remark as a conclusion is that Handel succeeded perfectly well to match the natural rhythm of the language and that of the music. Then he uses the voices in such a creative way that they sound even better than the instruments in the orchestra. The triumph of the Lord and a recitative can introduce Miriam, the prophetess, in her solo with the chorus. At this moment we reach perfection and Handel is the operatic genius of the 18th century that only Mozart, in a more mundane way, could equal.



Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

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