Handel - Theodora / Daneman, Croft, Taylor, Galstian, Berg, Slaars, Les Arts Florissants, Christie

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Theodora was Handel's next-to-last oratorio, and though it was a failure at its premiere, Handel preferred it above all his others. It tells of the martyrdom of the Christian Theodora (soprano) and her beloved Didymus (countertenor) at the hands of the Romans, with the villainous Valens (bass) in charge. Septimius (tenor) is a sympathetic Roman soldier and Irene (soprano) is Theodora's pious friend. This new recording presents the 3-hour work complete and is simply beautiful: Sophie Daneman sings Theodora's heart-felt arias expressively and with great innocence and lovely tone; Daniel Taylor's slim-voiced but sincere Didymus is effective; Valens's arias are spiteful and aggressive, and Nathan Berg makes a superb heavy; Richard Croft is magnificent in the complex role of Septimius, making his fast, coloratura-filled music sound easy, and Juliette Galstian is suitably devout and attractive of tone for Irene. As usual, William Christie and his Les Arts Florissants are right on the money, playing and singing with verve and commitment. Every so often the chorus (and Galstian) give away the fact that they aren't native English-speakers, but it hardly matters. Those who love Messiah and want to get to know some more Handel will be happy to encounter Theodora. Recommended. --Robert Levine

Handel - Theodora / Daneman, Croft, Taylor, Galstian, Berg, Slaars, Les Arts Florissants, Christie, Music, Sophie Daneman, Richard Croft, William Christie, Les Arts Florissants, George Frideric Handel, Choral, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Opera / Operetta / Oratorio, Oratorio
Handel - Theodora / Daneman, Croft, Taylor, Galstian, Berg, Slaars, Les Arts Florissants, Christie
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • subtlety in expression
  • Fantastic at every level
  • The best Theodora yet
 Handel - Theodora / Daneman, Croft, Taylor, Galstian, Berg, Slaars, Les Arts Florissants, Christie
Sophie Daneman , Richard Croft , William Christie , Les Arts Florissants , and George Frideric Handel
Manufacturer: Erato
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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  3. Handel: Saul
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  5. Händel: Arianna in Creta, HWV 32

ASIN: B0000A1M7P
Release Date: 2003-09-23

Tracks:

  1. Ouverture
  2. Trio
  3. Courante
  4. Reciative: Tis Diocletian's Natal Day (Valens)
  5. Air Go: My Faithful Soldier, Go
  6. Chorus: And Draw A Blessing Down (Heathens)
  7. Recitative: Vouchsafe, Dread Sir, A Gracious Ear (Didymus, Valens)
  8. Air: Racks, Gibbets, Sword And Fire
  9. Chorus: For Ever Thus Stands Fixed The Doom
  10. Reitative: Most Cruel Edict!
  11. Air: The Rapture'd Soul Defies The Sword
  12. Reciative: I Know Thy Virtues
  13. Air: Descend, Kind Pity, Heav'nly Guest
  14. Recitative: Tho' Hard, My Friends
  15. Air: Fond, Flatt'ring World, Adieu
  16. Recitative: O Bright Example Of All Goodness
  17. Air: Bane Of Virtue
  18. Chorus: Come, Mighty Father
  19. Recitative: Fly, Fly, My Brethren
  20. Air: As With Rosy Steps The Morn
  21. Chorus: All Pow'r In Heav'n Above
  22. Reciative: Mistaken Wretches!
  23. Air: Dread The Fruits Of Christian Folly
  24. Reciative: Deluded Mortal!
  25. Accompagnato: O Worse Than Death Indeed!
  26. Air: Angels, Ever Bright And Fair
  27. Recitative: Unhappy, Happy, Crew!
  28. Air: Kind Heav'n, If Virtue Be Thy Care
  29. Recitative: O Love, How Great Thy Pow'r
  30. Chorus: Go, Gen'rous, Pious Youth

Tracks:

  1. Recitative: Ye Men Of Antioch
  2. Chorus: Queen Of Summer, Queen Of Love
  3. Air: Wide Spread His Name
  4. Recitative: Return, Septimius
  5. Chorus: Venus, Laughing From The Skies
  6. Symphony
  7. Reciative: O Thou Bright Sun!
  8. Air: With Darkness Deep As Is My Woe
  9. Symphony
  10. Recitative: But Why Art Thou Disquieted, My Soul?
  11. Air: Oh, That I On Wings Could Rise
  12. Recitative: Long Have I Known
  13. Air: Tho' The Honours That Flora And Venus Receive
  14. Recitative: O Save Her Then
  15. Air: Deeds Of Kindness To Display
  16. Recitative: The Clouds Begin To Veil The Hemisphere
  17. Air: Defend Her, Heav'n
  18. Recitative: Or Lulled With Grief
  19. Air: Sweet Rose And Lily, Flow'ry Form
  20. Recitative: O Save Me, Heav'n
  21. Air: The Pilgrim's Home, THe Sick Man's Health
  22. Accompagnato: Forbid It, Heav'n
  23. Recitative: Or Say, What Right Have I
  24. Duet: To Thee, Thou Glorious Son Of Worth
  25. Recitative: 'Tis Night, But Night's Sweet Blessing
  26. Chorus: He Saw The Lovely Youth

Tracks:

  1. Air: Lord, To Thee, Each Night And Day
  2. Recitative: But See The Good, The Virtuous Didymus!
  3. Air: When Sunk In Anguish And Dispair
  4. Chorus: Blest Be The Hand
  5. Recitative: Undaunted In The Court
  6. Accompagnato: O My Irene, Heav'n Is Kind
  7. Duet: Whither, Princess, Do You Fly
  8. Recitative: She's Gone, Disdaining Liberty And Life
  9. Air: New Scenes Of Joy Come Crowding On
  10. Recitative: Is It A Christian Virtue, Then
  11. Recitative: Be That My Doom
  12. Air: From Virtue Springs Each Gen'rous Deed
  13. Air: Cease, Ye Slaves, Your Fruitless Pray'r
  14. Chorus: How Strange Their Ends
  15. Recitative: On Me Your Frowns
  16. Recitative: And Must Such Beauty Suffer!
  17. Air: Streams Of Pleasure Ever Flowing
  18. Recitative: Ere This Their Doom Is Past
  19. Chorus: O Love Divine, Thou Source Of Fame

Amazon.com

Theodora was Handel's next-to-last oratorio, and though it was a failure at its premiere, Handel preferred it above all his others. It tells of the martyrdom of the Christian Theodora (soprano) and her beloved Didymus (countertenor) at the hands of the Romans, with the villainous Valens (bass) in charge. Septimius (tenor) is a sympathetic Roman soldier and Irene (soprano) is Theodora's pious friend. This new recording presents the 3-hour work complete and is simply beautiful: Sophie Daneman sings Theodora's heart-felt arias expressively and with great innocence and lovely tone; Daniel Taylor's slim-voiced but sincere Didymus is effective; Valens's arias are spiteful and aggressive, and Nathan Berg makes a superb heavy; Richard Croft is magnificent in the complex role of Septimius, making his fast, coloratura-filled music sound easy, and Juliette Galstian is suitably devout and attractive of tone for Irene. As usual, William Christie and his Les Arts Florissants are right on the money, playing and singing with verve and commitment. Every so often the chorus (and Galstian) give away the fact that they aren't native English-speakers, but it hardly matters. Those who love Messiah and want to get to know some more Handel will be happy to encounter Theodora. Recommended. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars subtlety in expression.......2006-06-19

It's a tough choice.
Both William Christie's and Paul McCreesh's Theodora are great.

I think McCreesh's performance is more idiomatic, the choir is better disciplined and the playing and singing overall a tad more controlled and precise.
But Christie is livelier, more dramatic and at times more subtle and elegant too.

They both use different tempi for certain chorals and airs.
The chorus "Come mighty father" for instance is taken more rapidly and rhythmic by McCreesh.
Christie is slightly more timid and 'vocal' and I prefer it that way, his "Come mighty father" is 'lovely' where McCreesh's is 'jolly'

Theodora's air "With darkness deep as is my woe" is taken dramatically broader by McCreesh and I like it better that way, although I much prefer Sophie Daneman's voice in Christie's Theodora over McCreesh's Susan Gritton.

In the final chorus "O love divine, thou source of fame" I like Christie's slower pacing much better than McCreesh's more outgoing and joyous pacing.

But overall McCreesh chooses slower tempi and his orchestra is less expressive and sharp than Christie's.
Christie's performance is more forward moving, theatrical, McCreesh somewhat more statlely or 'British' if you like.

The soloists in Christie's reading also give him the advantage over McCreesh in my opinion.
Especially Sophie Daneman and Nathan Berg are excellent.
What a lovely voice Daneman has!
A woman you instantly fall in love with without even seeing her.
Berg is very authorative, he sounds like a big bearded man - surprisingly he doesn't look like he sounds at all (type his name in Google image search)

Christie's choir is as always very spontaneous, not as polished and disciplined as McCreeshes singers, but I prefer it that way.

Christie's pacing is spot on, I like his subtlety in expression.
There are some really quiet moments where it seems the music has stopped, but without interupting the pulse and drama.

Christie's way is a very different one than Rene Jacobs' for instance
He isn't afraid to keep certain parts rather understated and 'empty', Jacobs certainly would've add more "noise" to keep the tension - in a more obvious way.
Like I said: Christie is much more subtle and understated, but both ways are valid and do I like very much.

(But I don't think Jacobs' highly dramatic way would've worked in this piece, nor do I think I would've liked Christie's way in Saul for instance)

Not every air and chorus of this oratorio is nice.
I passionately dislike Didymus' air "The raptured soul defies the sword", 8 minutes and 30 seconds long...boooring.
And Irene's air "Bane of virtue", when she sings - as the music stops - "Prosp-eeee-rity!", I almost have to laugh, it sounds so amateurishly and poorly written.

But every single air by Theodora, lovely sung by Sophie Daneman, is a real treat.
And especially the end-chorus "O love divine, thou source of fame" is very, very beautiful.

Recommended.

5 out of 5 stars Fantastic at every level.......2006-01-15

This is a fanstastic recording at all levels, the musical, the dramatic and the sound quality level. The reason we don't know this Handel masterpiece Theodora is that the complete score without the unfortunate numerous revisions and cuts made by Handel after the not well received first performance is that it wasn't until 1985! that this complete score was rediscovered and published. Listen to this recording. It's a masterpiece; Handel probably considered it his best work! It's at the level of The B-minor Mass (Bach), The Magic Flute (Mozart), Giulio Cesare and Orlando(Handel), Tristan and Isolde (Wagner) in my opinion.

5 out of 5 stars The best Theodora yet.......2003-10-23

Theodora unlike many other Handel oratorios has been very lucky on records. About 2 years ago Archiv released their own recording with The Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh conducting and it was an excellent performance. It would have been hard to believe that any other recording could better it anytime soon, but as it happens, William Christie was the man to do the job.
His experience performing it in in Glyndebourne and elsewhere shows at every turn, his vision of the story is far more dramatic and taut than McCreesh's, and no less surprising, more beautiful too. His incomparable chorus and orchestra cover themselves with glory, and Erato's marvelous sound is better defined and warmer than Archiv's.
Both teams of soloists are even, both are extremely good, though it is a pity that David Daniels didn't appear in any set, his Dydimus at Glyndebourne was one of best things he has ever done.
Whatever you do don't miss Theodora a superb masterpiece, and if you are in doubt I bet you won't regret buying Christie's.

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