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Reviewer: David Vickers
Eternal source of light divine
was written (but perhaps not performed) for the birthday of Queen Anne in
1713. The Ode was paired before with Handel’s four anthems for the
coronation of George II (1727) in a memorable recording by the Choir of
King’s College, Cambridge, and the Academy of Ancient Music (EMI, A/01), but
this repeat prescription is justified because of the refreshing spontaneity
of this warts-and-all live recording made last year at St John’s Smith
Square. Clare College Choir are excellent in every technical respect and
there’s no hint of posturing clichés: their exclamations of ‘God save the
King!’ during Zadok the Priest seem more like a statement of confident hope
than mere bombast. Plenty of directors know what to do with Handel’s
trumpets and drums in D major but Lars Ulrik Mortensen comes into his own in
the contrasting middle sections: the plaintive oboes and hushed strings in
the middle section of Let thy hand be strengthened (‘Let justice and
judgment’), the gorgeous ritornello of ‘Upon thy right hand did stand the
Queen’ (My heart is inditing) and the affectionate gracefulness of
‘Exceeding glad shall he be’ (The King shall rejoice) are all moulded
sublimely. The Purcellian rapture of the Ode’s first part is captured by
trumpeter Sebastian Philpott and countertenor Alex Potter; in the following
sequence of numbers Mortensen and his youthful crew radiate the courtly joy
of Handel’s first English-language masterpiece. EUBO also perform Op 3 No 2;
their rapturous dialogue between two cellos and solo oboe in the Largo puts
some more experienced Baroque bands to shame. |
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