This
SACD comes from Harnoncourt protégé
Hengelbrock on the label for which
he has been active for some time now,
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. I should
start by saying that I listened to
it as a normal CD, not as SACD, so
can’t vouch for its potency in that
medium. As it is it sounds a very
warmly balanced disc with a good balance
between individual voices and between
the choir and orchestra.
Hengelbrock
tends to employ solo singers from
within his choir so there are no obviously
starry names – not yet at any rate,
because he has a knack of employing
some fine musicians who go on to forge
solo careers. The voices emerge “from
the choir” in this recording – sample
the opening chorus in Dixit Dominus
where soprano, (male) alto and tenor
broaden acoustically from the choir
(or are made to seem to do so) and
are not unduly spotlit in more obviously
personality-led performances. Dixit
Dominus is a virtuoso work from Handel’s
Italian years and demands considerable
resources from soloists and chorus,
and also from the orchestra, to make
its greatest impression. We have a
star in the making, maybe, in soprano
Andrea Brown, whose very attractive
voice, light, agile, mobile - and
which has an inherently beautiful
sound - is quite able to cut through
the taxing divisions of Tecum
principium. Tenor Hermann Oswald
copes manfully with Dominus a dextris tuis but it lies high
for him and he has to force quite
a bit. Bass Wolf Matthias Friedrich
is quite lightish but agile. What
this movement shows us is the startling
modernity of Handel’s invention; it’s
still amazing to hear the rapped out
syllables of conquassabit and no less in this rhythmically
pulsing, strongly accented performance.
Here as elsewhere dynamics are strongly
etched, orchestral colour is paramount,
accents are pointed and masculine.
The great duet De
torrente is seraphic here – others
perhaps find more weight of personality
but this is still a most attractive
reading.
Coupled
with Handel is Caldara’s Missa dolorosa
with the Crucifixus appended as the
final track. Written probably shortly
before Caldara’s death this is less
of a flamboyant and obviously virtuosic
setting than Handel’s. There’s a compelling
harmoniousness about it and some very
evocative choral writing (the Qui tollis is
especially noteworthy in that regard).
Opportunities for solo declamation
are less apparent but there are still
plenty of moments when the soloists
impress themselves on the fabric of
the choral and orchestral texture.
For examples of superior musical compression
one could do a lot worse than lend
an ear to the tiny Sanctus and the
orchestra’s leader Verena Schoneweg
impresses in her extended solo in
the Benedictus. The sixteen part Crucifixus
probably derives from a larger work,
a Mass setting in all probability,
but has stood the test of history
as an independent piece and exists
in multiple copies. The woven strands
achieve a particularly expressive
depth.
The
notes are cogent and well written
and the performances very sympathetic.
The programme has also been revealingly
constructed to reflect diverse musical
imperatives and settings – constructively
so. Certainly a must for the Caldara;
if you have the Dixit Dominus (Gardiner’s
say) you may well pause but there
is real merit in this performance.
Jonathan
Woolf
Early
Music
Balthasar-Neumann-Chor
SACD 
