Handel - Athalia / E. Scholl · Schlick · Holzhausen · Reinhold · Brutscher · MacLeod · Martini

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Messiah aside, Athalia may just be the best of all Handel's Biblical oratorios--it has a compact plot (the evil queen Athalia, daughter of Jezebel, is overthrown in favor of the one descendant of King Solomon whom she hadn't managed to kill), an unusually good libretto based on Racine, choruses both poignant and stirring, and da capo arias that actually make dramatic sense. The only previous recording, Christopher Hogwood's splendid 1986 account (featuring a stellar Baroque-specialist cast headed by Emma Kirkby, with Joan Sutherland giving a creditable performance from an entirely different planet), isn't currently available--making this the only Athalia in the catalog. If you can tolerate some truly funky pronunciation from the all-German cast, the performance is terrific. The chorus and orchestra are accurate, sensitive, and (when the trumpets, horns, and drums join in) gutsy; despite their peculiar vowel sounds, the soloists are all thoroughly convincing. Special mention must be made of contralto Annette Reinhold, who is sensational as the high priest, Joad: her singing is pure, commanding, ardent, and convincingly masculine. Those who have the Hogwood recording should certainly hang onto it, but especially because of Naxos's price, anyone who loves Handel should try this. --Matthew Westphal

Handel - Athalia / E. Scholl · Schlick · Holzhausen · Reinhold · Brutscher · MacLeod · Martini, Music, George Frideric Handel, Joachim Carlos Martini, Elisabeth Scholl, Barbara Schlick, Barockorchester Frankfurt, Junge Kantorei, Friederike Holzhausen, Annette Reinhold, Markus Brutscher, Stephan MacLeod, Choral, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Oratorio, Orchestral & Symphonic

Average customer rating: Tremendously dramatic, melodious, seamless and quite unusual wonderful! wonderful! Brilliant and exciting

Handel - Athalia / E. Scholl · Schlick · Holzhausen · Reinhold · Brutscher · MacLeod · Martini George Frideric Handel , Joachim Carlos Martini , Elisabeth Scholl , Barbara Schlick , Barockorchester Frankfurt , Junge Kantorei , Friederike Holzhausen , Annette Reinhold , Markus Brutscher , and Stephan MacLeod Manufacturer: Naxos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Handel | Handel, George Frideric | ( H ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: Handel: Deborah Samson Handel - Jephtha / Ainsley, George, Denley, Oelze, Köhler, Gooding, RIAS-Kammerchor, Creed Handel - Joshua / Kirkby, Bowman, Oliver, Ainsley, George, The King's Consort Handel: Susanna ASIN: B00000DAJF Release Date: 1998-09-29

Tracks:

1. No.1 Sinfonia
2. No.2 Aria - Josabeth
3. No.3a Chorus - Young Virgins/No.3b Chorus - Israelites
4. No.4 Aria And Chorus
5. No.5 Recitativo - Abner
6. No.6 Aria - Abner And Chorus
7. No.7 Recitativo - Joad
8. No.8 Accompagnato - Joad
9. No.9 Aria And Chorus - Joad
10. No.10 Arioso - Athalia
11. No.11a Recitativo
12. No.11b Arioso - Athalia
13. No.12 Chorus Of Attendants And Sidonian Priests
14. No.13 Recitativo - Athalia
15. No.14 Chorus Of Attendants And Sidonian Priests
16. No.15 Recitativo
17. No.16 Aria - Mathan
18. No.17 Aria - Athalia
19. No.18 Recitativo
20. No.19 Chorus Of Attendants
21. No.20 Recitativo Joad
22. No.21 Aria - Josabeth
23. No.22 Recitativo
24. No.23 Aria And Chorus
25. Chorus Of Israelites

Tracks:

1. No.24 Chorus And Aria
2. No.25 Aria - Josabeth
3. No.26 Recitativo
4. No.27 Aria - Abner
5. No.28 Recitativo - Joad
6. No.29 Recitativo
7. No.30 Aria - Joas
8. No.31 Recitativo
9. No.32 Aria - Athalia
10. No.33, Duet
11. No.34 Aria - Joas
12. No.35 Recitativo - Joad
13. No.36 Duet
14. No.37 Recitativo - Abner
15. No.38 Chorus
16. No.39 Arioso - Joad
17. No.40 Chorus Of Virgins, Priests And Levites
18. No.41 Accompagnato - Joad
19. No.42, Aria And Chorus
20. No.43 Recitativo
21. No.44 Chorus Of Virgins, Priests And Levites
22. No.45 Recitativo
23. No.46 Aria - Josabeth
24. No.47a Recitativo
25. No.47b Recitativo
26. No.48 Chorus And Aria
27. No.49 Recitativo
28. No.50 Aria - Abner
29. No.51 Recitativo
30. No.52 Aria - Mathan
31. No.53 Recitativo
32. No.54 Aria - Athalia
33. No.55 Recitativo
34. No.56 Duet
35. No.57 Recitativo - Abner
36. No.58 Chorus Of Young Virgins, Priests, Levites, Israelites

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Tremendously dramatic, melodious, seamless and quite unusual.......2003-07-28

Athalia, as a devotee of the cult of Baal, seeks the suppression of her father's faith - the suffering the Jews have endured under Athalia's harsh rule is only hinted at. It is interesting to note, in the opening scene which has the Jews preparing to celebrate Shavuot, that the power of music is seen by the regime as a dangerous threat to be suppressed much as has often been the case in recent history. There are certain differences between the story as told in Handel's oratorio, which is based upon Racine's play of the same name, and the biblical accounts of the reign and fate of Athalia - but these make for a highly dramatic, compact plot driven by some of Handel's finest and most inspired music.

Elisabeth Scholl is a convincing Athalia, relishing the dramatic ariosos and arias. I do think her final aria calls for more determination if not from her then from the orchestra, but that may be the fault of the live recording. Barbara Schlick's sweet soprano lends itself very well to Josabeth, who has saved the dead king's son from certain death by concealing his identity from Athalia. This boy, Joas, is sung by a soprano and might better be sung by a treble, considering one key scene is an exchange between these three characters.

Stephan McLeod, who sings the role of Abner, is not as refined a bass as, say, Michael George or Alan Ewing, but is certainly capable and fulfils the needs of the role. Markus Brustcher's voice has warble rather than vibrato, which is a great pity since Mathan's "Gentle airs, melodious strains" is one of the work's most pleasant arias.

Contralto Annette Reinhold sings in a truly strange manner, and were it not for the generally accented performances of the soloists, one might find it more than a little off-putting. Still, I tend to agree with Amazon.com's editorial reviewer that she is commanding, ardent, and convincingly masculine in her role, that of the High Priest (on Hogwood's recording sung by James Bowman who manages none of this, by the way).

The energy and commitment of the choir shines through the choruses, and the sound is more satisfactory than on some of Naxos' live recordings. The choruses seem particularly well-integrated, dramatically speaking.

Sometimes one can pick out particular highlights from an opera or oratorio, but in the case of Athalia, the highlights are really too many to mention, because the quality of the music is uniformly excellent, each scene packed with the colour of the stage. But listen, for example, to the duet between Josabeth and Joas, any of Athalia's arias (What scenes of horror around me rise", "My vengeance awakes me"), Mathan's "Gentle airs, melodious strains", Joad's "Jerusalem, thou shalt no more" . . . the list goes on. It's an oratorio easily appreciated in its entirety, each part flowing naturally and seamlessly from the other.

The two reasons, for which I make no apology, that I would recommend this recording over that of Hogwood are the absences of the rather talent-less, albeit popular, 'singers' David Thomas (as Mathan) and James Bowman (as the High Priest) - but, with a certain degree of reluctance: these two baneful singers are accompanied by Kirkby (of whom I'm rarely a fan), Rolfe-Johnson (whom I think is fantastic) and Sutherland (who does a surprisingly good job of the role). I would sooner give this three-and-half stars however, as this is one of just two recordings currently available, the other of which has its problems too, I'm giving it four instead of three. It's rather sad that there have been only two recordings of this, Handel's third oratorio (which was in its day the first to be a triumphant success), because its libretto is excellent, its dramatic impact tremendous, its music thoroughly brilliant - there really isn't a less than gripping moment: it deserves far more recognition.

wonderful!.......2002-06-15

wonderful!.......2002-06-15

Brilliant and exciting.......2000-07-19

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