HANDEL: Semele 2CD

Georg Frideric Handel (1985-1759)

Semele (1744)
Opera-oratorio in 3 acts

Justino Diaz, bass - Cadmus, Somnus
Mark Deller, countertenor - Athamas
Sheila Armstrong, soprano - Semele
Helen Watts, contralto - Ino, Juno
Robert Tear, tenor - Jupiter
Edgar Fleet, tenor - Apollo
Felicity Palmer, mezzo-soprano - Iris
Neilson Taylor, bass - a priest
Harold Lester, harpsichord & organ
Amor Artis Chorale
John McCarthy, chorus master
English Chamber Orchestra
Johannes Somary, conductor

Available again by popular demand! Vanguard Recordings' landmark recording of Handel's Semele, first released in 1973, revealed the work as one of the composer's most original operatic undertakings. For the recording, producer Seymour Solomon and conductor Johannes Somary assembled a cast of formidable singers, a mix of veterans and young talent on the verge of major opera and concert stage careers, and a superb chorus cherry-picked from London's finest vocal ensembles. The interpretation straddles the grand British oratorio tradition and the then-exploding "early music" movement, providing an ample argument that Handel was indeed writing for full-bodied voices and large-scale entertainment, and yielding a sumptuous treat for lovers of opera, Baroque music, and terrific singing.

"Though he favours oratorio-like tempi, [Johannes] Somary keeps in mind an operatic flavour and the Amor Artis Chorale (pseudonymn for well-known professional recording choir) sings splendidly, often with great vigour… attractive ornamentation.... Overall the performance has much charm and spirit with superb soloists…. [T]he fine recording allows excellent detail yet is full and expansive."
© Penguin Guide to Classical Recordings , 1999