Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
31	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	1	2	3	4

Handel - Theodora [McCreesh] 3CD

Posted By: paracels

Date: 14 Feb 2010 10:42:16

"The Jews will not come to it, because it is a Christian story; and the Ladies will not, because it is a virtuous one." Such was Handel's own assessment of the prospects for Theodora. This oratorio always has been highly esteemed by serious Handelians; in the composer's time, as in our own. Many listeners, however, could be forgiven for finding somewhat tiresome the musical account of the oh-so-chaste Princess Theodora of Antioch and her martyrdom at the hands of the Romans. Certainly many modern performances have tended to drone on--in a virtuously Protestant manner--about bidding farewell to worldly things and clinging to faith through tribulation. Of the many marvelous things about this recording, the most remarkable is the vocal acting: Paul McCreesh and his cast have created real characters with real conflicts. Susan Gritton gives us a youthful Theodora who is almost besotted with her own virtue and faith--and genuinely frightened when that faith gets her into danger. Countertenor Robin Blaze portrays Didymus, Theodora's suitor and rescuer, with love-struck impetuousness, as well as confident coloratura. Paul Agnew has always had a beautiful tenor voice, but never before has he captured so well a character's internal conflicts as in the role of the Roman lieutenant Septimius. As the Christian woman Irene and the Roman governor Valens (the libretto's respective compass points of good and evil), mezzo Susan Bickley and bass Neal Davies bring alive what could be stock roles--Bickley delicate and pure yet steadfast, and Davies exuberantly tyrannical. McCreesh's superb chorus and Baroque orchestra, as thrilling here as they were in Solomon, are probably the best interpreters of Handel oratorio who are now active. We still might get a recording of Theodora that's even more beautifully sung than this one, but we're unlikely to get one that's more dramatically engaging. -- Matthew Westphal.

Tracklist:

Disc 1

1. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Overture: [grave] - allegro
2. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Overture: Trio
3. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Overture: Courante

4. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 1: ''Tis Dioclesian's natal Day'
5. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 1: 'Go, my faithful soldier, go'
6. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 1: 'And draw a Blessing down'
7. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 1: 'Vouchsafe, dread Sir'
8. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 1: 'Racks, Gibbets, Sword, & Fire'
9. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 1: 'For ever thus stands fix'd the Doom'
10. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 2: 'Most cruel Edict'
11. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 2: 'The raptur'd Soul'
12. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 2: 'I know thy Virtues'
13. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 2: 'Descend, kind Pity'
14. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 3: 'Tho' hard, my Friends'
15. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 3: 'Fond, flatt'ring World, adieu'
16. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 3: 'O bright Example'
17. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 3: 'Bane of Virtue'
18. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 3: 'Come, mighty Father'
19. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 4: 'Fly, fly, my Brethren'
20. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 4: 'As with rosy Steps'
21. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 4: 'All Pow'r in Heav'n'
22. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 5: 'Mistaken wretches'
23. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 5: 'Dread the Fruits of Christian Folly'
24. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 5: 'Deluded Mortal'
25. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 5: 'Angels, ever bright, and fair'
26. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 6: 'Unhappy happy Crew'
27. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 6: 'Kind Heav'n, if Virtue be thy Care'
28. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 6: 'O Love! how great thy Pow'r'
29. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 1, Scene 6: 'Go, gen'rous, pious Youth'

Total Playing Time [1:16:15]

Disc 2

1. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 1: 'Ye Men of Antioch'
2. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 1: 'Queen of Summer'
3. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 1: 'Wide spread his Name'
4. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 1: 'Return, Septimus'
5. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 1: 'Venus laughing from the Skies'
6. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 2: Symphony
7. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 2: 'O thou bright Sun'
8. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 2: 'With Darkness deep as is my Woe'
9. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 2: Symphony of Soft Musick
10. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 2: 'O that I on Wings cou'd rise'
11. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 3: 'Long have I known'
12. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 3: 'Tho' the honours'
13. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 3: 'O save her then'
14. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 3: 'Deeds of Kindness'
15. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 4: 'The Clouds begin to veil the Hemisphere'
16. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 4: 'Defend her, Heav'n'
17. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 5: 'Or lull'd with Grief'
18. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 5: 'Sweet Rose, and Lily'
19. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 5: 'The Pilgrim's Home'
20. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 5: 'Forbid it, Heav'n'
21. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 5: 'To thee, Thou glorious Son of Worth'
22. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 6: ''Tis night'
23. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 2, Scene 6: 'He say the lovely Youth'
24. Alternative version of Part 2, Scene 2: 'O thou bright Sun'
25. Alternative version of Part 2, Scene 2: Symphony
26. Alternative version of Part 2, Scene 2: 'But why art Thou disquieted'
27. Alternative version of Part 2, Scene 2: 'O that I on Wings cou'd rise'

Total Playing Time [59:54]

Disc 3

1. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 1: 'Lord to thee'
2. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 2: 'But see, the good, the virtuous Didymus'
3. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 2: 'When sunk in Anguish'
4. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 2: 'Blest be the Hand'
5. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 3: 'Undaunted in the Court'
6. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 3: 'Whither, Princess'
7. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 3: 'She's gone'
8. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 3: 'New scenes of Joy'
9. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scenes 4 and 5: 'Is it a Christian Virtue then'
10. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scenes 4 and 5: 'From Virtue springs'
11. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scenes 4 and 5: ''Tis kind, my Friends'
12. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scenes 4 and 5: 'How strange their Ends'
13. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scenes 4 and 5: 'On my your Frowns'
14. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scenes 4 and 5: 'Ye Ministers of Justice'
15. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 6: 'And must such Beauty suffer'
16. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 6: 'Streams of Pleasure'
17. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 7: 'Ere This their Doom is past'
18. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Part 3, Scene 7: 'O Love divine'

Total Playing Time [46:52]

DOWNLOAD from RAPIDSHARE:

password:

mccreesh

Opera Baroque 2000s Classical Lossless