Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Handel: Alexander's Feast (2005)

Posted By: tirexiss

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Handel: Alexander's Feast (2005)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 01:55:23 | 564 MB
Genre: Classical, Choral | Label: Coro | Catalog: COR16028

Alexander's Feast, an ode to St Cecilia by the longdead John Dryden, was set by Handel in 1736 and revised many times. Subtitled 'The Power of Musick', it describes a banquet held by Alexander the Great after his victory over the Persians. The singing and playing of Timotheus inspire Alexander to drunkenness, pity, love and revenge, one after the other. What has this to do with the patron saint of music, you might well ask? The answer comes in a commentary towards the end, when Dryden contrasts Timotheus's pagan skills with the invention of the organ and the celestial connections of 'Divine Cecilia', who 'enlarg'd the former narrow bounds'.
The music is superb, and it's given a superb performance here. The Sixteen (actually 18, with two extra sopranos and an all-male alto line) are a little lightweight in the grander choruses but they sing with precision and unforced tone. Over a swiftly moving ground bass, 'The many rend the skies' goes with a swing; their finest moment, though, is their hushed contemplation of the Persian king lying dead on the field of battle. The lion's share of the solos goes to Nancy Argenta, whose fresh tones, admirably suited to 'War, he sung, is toil and trouble', are cunningly and effectively veiled for 'He chose a mournful muse', an accompanied recitative in the manner of 'Thy rebuke hath broken his heart'. Ian Partridge is superb in his subtle handling of the words, as he is with his wonderful breath control in 'Happy pair'. Michael George is perfect in 'Revenge, Timotheus cries': hissing snakes, flashing sparkles and all. The orchestration is a constant delight. In some of the solo numbers Handel uses only violins and continuo; elsewhere he introduces a solo cello, a trumpet obbligato, recorders and horns. Best of all is the creepy middle section of 'Revenge, Timotheus cries', where he conjures up the 'ghastly band' of the Grecian dead with Neapolitan sixth cadences played by the violas and bassoons in octaves. All these opportunities are seized with relish by the Symphony of Harmony and Invention. In an unsuitable church acoustic, Harry Christophers sets unfailingly suitable tempi. And to add to our delight he includes the concerti detailed above that are integral to the piece.


Track List:

CD 1:
01. Overture 6.23
02. ‘Twas at the Royal Feast 0.58
03. Happy, Happy, Happy Pair 4.45
04. Timotheus plac’d on high 0.26
Harp Concerto Op.4, No.6 in B flat
05. Allegro 6.23
06. Larghetto 4.15
07. Allegro moderato 2.43
08. The song began from Jove 1.01
09. The list’ning Crowd 2.09
10. With ravish’d Ears 3.35
11. The praise of Bacchus 0.36
12. Bacchus, ever fair and young 5.09
13. Sooth’d with the sound 0.46
14. He chose a mournful Muse 1.25
15. He sung Darius Great and Good 2.48
16. With downcast Looks 0.55
17. Behold Darius Great and Good 2.13
18. The Mighty Master smil’d to see 0.31
19. Softly sweet 3.35
20. War, he sung, is Toil and Trouble 4.38
21. The Many rend the Skies 3.58
22. The Prince, unable to conceal 6.27
23. The Many rend the Skies 4.03

Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016

EAC extraction logfile from 25. July 2018, 1:39

Nancy Argenta, Ian Partridge, Michael George; Harry Christophers / Handel - Alexander's Feast (Disc 1)

Used drive : ATAPI iHAS124 F Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
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==== Log checksum 63562341F37D75FA72FA0125C3542A9F02F3FA46207723C3B54CC2BBFA7E1BB9 ====

CD 2:
01. Now strike the Golden Lyre 2.40
02. Revenge, Revenge, Timotheus cries 7.52
03. Give the Vengeance due 1.25
04. The Princes applaud with a furious Joy 2’23
05. Thais led the way 5.13
06. Thus long ago 2.21
07. At last Divine Cecilia came 2.29
08. Let old Timotheus yield the Prize 0.22
09. Let old Timotheus yield the Prize 3.27
Organ Concerto Op.4, No.1 in G minor
11. Larghetto e staccato 4.49
12. Allegro 4.50
13. Adagio 1.14
14. Andante 3.59
15. Your Voices tune 3.00

Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016

EAC extraction logfile from 25. July 2018, 2:08

Nancy Argenta, Ian Partridge, Michael George; Harry Christophers / Handel - Alexander's Feast (Disc 2)

Used drive : ATAPI iHAS124 F Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "TRACKTOTAL=%numtracks%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %source% -o %dest%


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Test CRC 345FAF21
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Copy OK

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==== Log checksum 46CA376E019EB5389B58DC703EB71166FAE8E9C33BFC20166E58BBB66E791D16 ====

Performers:
Nancy Argenta - soprano
Ian Partridge - tenor
Michael George – bass
Andrew Lawrence-King (triple harp)
Stephen Stubbs (archlute)
Erin Headley (lirone)
Paul Nicholson (organ)

Symphony of Harmony and Invention
Harry Christophers (conductor)

Thanks to the Original ripper (unknown)!

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