John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists - Handel: Hercules (1995)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 674 Mb | Total time: 75:15+77:43 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Archiv Produktion | # 447 689-2 | Recorded: 1982
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 674 Mb | Total time: 75:15+77:43 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Archiv Produktion | # 447 689-2 | Recorded: 1982
John Eliot Gardiner has done much over the years to set the music of Handel where it truly belongs in public opinion by the professionalism he has brought to live performances and to recordings. When his reading of Hercules appeared four years ago it was warmly received for its fine choral and solo singing and skilful playing on period instruments and, at the same time, taken to task for the extensive cuts made and Gardiner's tendency to overinterpret, particularly in the choruses. None of this has changed, nor could it have (unless the missing sections of recitative and aria had been recorded in the first place, cut and then reinstated, and the remarks of reviewers taken to heart) in the transfer to CD. The novel immediacy of the CD medium still thrills the listener: the crisp articulation Gardiner elicits from players and singers alike is particularly well served. Happily, Handel is the ultimate beneficiary. His music sounds better than ever on CD. The clarity of the choruses and orchestral ritornellos is never more evident than in "Crown with festal pomp" of Act I, with its barn-dance introduction, and "Wanton god" in Act 2, where Gardiner's quick, light style—it goes like the wind—is very successful. "Jealousy" in Act 2 serves as an example of a Handelian chorus, dramatically played and sung, that is nevertheless spoilt by overinterpretation; the mincing articulation of the upward scale on "tyrant of the human breast" is nowhere indicated in the score, though comprehensible in Gardinerian terms as foil to the melismatic Andante section ("Trifles light as floating air") that follows. Dejanira's Act 2 dramatic recitative and aria beginning "Where shall I fly!", stirringly though it is sung by Sarah Walker, suffers a similar fate. Listeners won't be put off, nor need they be. After all, Gardiner seeks here as elsewhere to illuminate the score with greater attention to nuance and detail than anyone else has ever lavished upon it. This is beautiful music, beautifully performed.– Gramophone
Performer:
Hercules – John Tomlinson
Dejanira – Sarah Walker
Hyllus – Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Iole – Jennifer Smith
Lichas – Catherine Denley
The Monteverdi Choir
The English Baroque Soloists
Conductor – John Eliot Gardiner
Track List:
CD1:
01. Act I. Overtura
02. Recitativo accompagnato: See with what sad dejection (Lichas)
03. Aria: No longer, Fate, relentless frown (Lichas)
04. Recitativo accompagnato & Aria: O Hercules! why art thou absent from me? (Dejanira)
05. Recitativo: Princess! be comforted, and hope the best (Lichas, Dejanira, Hyllus)
06. Aria: I feel, i feel the god (Hyllus)
07. Recitativo & Aria: Then i am lost! O dreadful oracle! (Dejanira)
08. Recitativo & Aria: Despair not! but let rising hope suspend (Hyllus)
09. Chorus: O Filial piety! O generous love!
10. Recitativo & Aria: Banish your fears! The noble Hercules (Lichas, Dejanira)
11. Recitativo: A train of captives, red with honest wounds (Lichas, Hyllus, Dejanira)
12. March
13. Recitativo: Thanks to the powers above (Hercules, Iole)
14. Aria: My father! Ah! methinks i see (Iole)
15. Recitativo & Aria: Now farewell, arms! From hence the tide of time (Hercules)
16. Chorus: Cross with festal pomp the day
17. Act II. Aria: How blest the maid ordained to dwell (Iole)
18. Recitativo & Aria: It must be so! Fame speaks aloud my wrongs (Dejanira, Iole)
19. Recitativo: Whence this unjust suspicion? (Iole, Dejanira)
20. Aria: Ah! think what ills the jealous prove (Iole)
21. Recitativo: It is too sure that Hercules is false (Dejanira, Lichas)
22. Chorus: Jealousy! Infernal pest
CD2:
01. Recitativo: She knows my passion, and has heard me breathe (Hyllus, Iole)
02. Aria: From celestial seats descending (Hyllus)
03. Chorus: Wanton god of amorous fires
04. Recitativo & Aria: Yes, I congratulate your titles, swelled (Dejanira, Hercules)
05. Recitativo & Aria: O glorious pattern of heroic deeds! (Dejanira)
06. Recitativo: You are deceived! Some villain has belied (Hercules, Dejanira)
07. Aria: Cease, ruler of the day, to rise (Dejanira)
08. Recitativo: Some kinder power inspire me to regain (Dejanira, Lichas, Iole)
09. Duet: Joys of freedom, joys of power (Dejanira, Iole)
10. Recitativo & Chorus: Father of Hercules, great Jove, O help (Dejanira)
11. Act III. Sinfonia
12. Recitativo: Ye sons of Trachin, mourn your valiant chief (Lichas)
13. Aria: O scene of unexampled woe (Lichas)
14. Chorus: Tyrants now no more shall dread
15. Recitativo accompagnato: O Jove! what land is this, what clime accurst (Hercules)
16. Recitativo: Great Jove! relieve his pains! (Hyllus, Hercules)
17. Aria: Let not fame the tidings spread (Hyllus)
18. Recitativo accompagnato: Where shall I fly? Where hide this guilty head? (Dejanira)
19. Recitativo: Lo! the fair fatal cause of all this ruin! (Dejanira, Iole)
20. Aria: My breast with tender pity swells (Iole)
21. Recitativo: Princess, rejoice! whose heaven-directed hand (Priest, Dejanira)
22. Recitativo: Words are too faint to speak the warring passions (Dejanira, Priest, Iole)
23. Duet: O prince, whose virtues all admire (Iole, Hyllus)
24. Resitativo (Priest) & Chorus: Ye sons of freedom, now, in every clime
Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016
EAC extraction logfile from 7. June 2019, 11:42
John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists / Handel - Hercules CD1
Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-218L 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
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Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%
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Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016
EAC extraction logfile from 7. June 2019, 12:57
John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists / Handel - Hercules CD2
Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-218L 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 : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%
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Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\Handel - Hercules CD2.wav
Peak level 93.3 %
Extraction speed 2.2 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 97C7C431
Copy CRC 97C7C431
Copy OK
No errors occurred
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