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Handel: Belshazzar.(Opera Review)
HANDEL: Belshazzar
Auger, Robbin; Bowman, Rolfe Johnson, Wilson-Johnson; The English Consort, Pinnock. Synopsis, no libretto. Archly 477 037-2 (3)
Archiv's budget reissue of this compelling 1990 Belshazzar proves doubly welcome, since the only seriously competitive version of this uncommonly ambitious and interesting oratorio, Harnoncourt's 1975 performance (Teldec 0630-10275), is hard to find. Belshazzar, with a libretto by the same Charles Jennens who crafted Messiah, draws on Daniel and Isaiah, plus Herodotus's History and Xenophon's Education of Cyrus, to present--dramatically, but at a certain philosophical remove--the story of the titular Babylonian tyrant's overthrow by the Persian Cyrus. In contrast to the heedless party boy Belshazzar, Cyrus emerges as a thoughtful, merciful "born ruler." (Jennens, a partisan of Stuart restoration to supplant the corrupt Hanoverian regime, had a subtextual agenda that probably eluded Handel.) The score varies fine arias with especially complex, telling accompanied recitatives and spirited choruses. (The English Concert's impressive choir, a clear improvement on Harnoncourt's Swedish assemblage, gives suitably varied voicing to the three contrasted nations portrayed: Babylonians, Jews and Persians.) Trevor Pinnock's leadership of his high-quality forces (the excellent Simon Standage is concertmaster) is everywhere stylish and sound; ...
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