Handel: L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato

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This is the first truly complete recording of Handel's delectable pastoral ode. The early numbers of L'Allegro – literally 'the cheerful man' – have a spontaneous exuberance barely matched in... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: CDA67283-4
Label: Hyperion
Length: 2 hours 17 minutes

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Excerpt, Handel: Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 10 in D minor, HWV328

Work length5:08

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King's Consort
Robert King

Handel: L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato

Work length2:12:15

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Gary Cooper (organ), Paul Agnew (tenor), Susan Gritton (soprano), Claron McFadden (soprano), Lorna Anderson (soprano), Rachel Brown (flute), Neal Davies (bass), Andrew Clark (horn), Jane Coe (cello)
King's Consort, King's Consort Choir
Robert King

Part 1 No 01. Accompagnato. Hence, loathed melancholy (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 02. Accompagnato. Hence, vain deluding joys (Il Penseroso)

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Part 1 No 03. Air. Come, thou goddess fair and free (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 04. Air. Come rather, goddess, sage and holy (Il Penseroso)

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Part 1 No 05. Air with chorus. Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 06. Air with chorus. Come and trip it as you go (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 07. Accompagnato. Come, pensive nun, devout and pure (Il Penseroso)

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Part 1 No 08. Air. Come, but keep thy wonted state (Il Penseroso)

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Part 1 No 09. Accompagnato with chorus. There, held in holy passion still (Il Penseroso)

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Part 1 No 10. Recitative. Hence, loathed Melancholy! (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 11. Air. Mirth, admit me of thy crew (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 12. Accompagnato. First and chief, on golden wing (Il Penseroso)

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Part 1 No 13. Air. Sweet bird, that shun'st the noise of Folly (Il Penseroso)

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Part 1 No 14. Recitative. If I give thee honour due (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 15. Air. Mirth, admit me of thy crew (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 16. Air. Oft on a plat of rising ground (Il Penseroso)

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Part 1 No 17. Air. Far from all resort of mirth (Il Penseroso)

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Part 1 No 18. Recitative. If I give thee honour due (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 19. Air. Let me wander not unseen (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 20. Air. Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 21. Accompagnato. Mountains, on whose barren breast (L'Allegro)

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Part 1 No 22. Air with chorus. Or let the merry bells ring round (L'Allegro)

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Part 2 No 01. Accompagnato. Hence, vain deluding Joys (Il Penseroso)

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Part 2 No 02. Air. Sometimes let gorgeous tragedy (Il Penseroso)

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Part 2 No 03. Air. But O, sad virgin, that thy pow'r (Il Penseroso)

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Part 2 No 04. Air. Thus, Night, oft see me in thy pale career (Il Penseroso)

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Part 2 No 05. Chorus. Populous cities please me then (L'Allegro)

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Part 2 No 06. Air. There let Hymen oft appear (L'Allegro)

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Part 2 No 07. Accompagnato. Me, when the sun begins to fling (Il Penseroso)

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Part 2 No 08. Air. Hide me from Day's garish eye (Il Penseroso)

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Part 2 No 09. Air. I'll to the well-trod stage anon (L'Allegro)

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Part 2 No 10. Air. And ever against eating cares (L'Allegro)

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Part 2 No 11. Air. Orpheus' self may heave his head (L'Allegro)

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Part 2 No 12. Air with chorus. These delights if thou canst give (L'Allegro)

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Part 2 No 13. Recitative. But let my due feet never fail (Il Penseroso)

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Part 2 No 14. Chorus. There let the pealing organ blow (Il Penseroso)

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Part 2 No 15. Air. May at last my weary age (Il Penseroso)

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Part 2 No 16. Fugue. Organo ad libitum il soggetto della fuga seguente

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Part 2 No 17. Chorus. These pleasures, Melancholy, give (Il Penseroso)

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Part 3 No 1. Accompagnato. Hence! boast not, ye profane (Il Moderato)

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Part 3 No 2. Air. Come, with native lustre shine (Il Moderato)

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Part 3 No 3. Accompagnato with chorus. Sweet Temp'rance in thy right hand bear (Il Moderato)

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Part 3 No 4. Air. Come, with gentle hand restrain (Il Moderato)

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Part 3 No 5. Recitative. No more short life they then will spend (Il Moderato)

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Part 3 No 6. Air. Each action will derive new grace (Il Moderato)

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Part 3 No 7. Duet. As steals the morn upon the night (Il Moderato)

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Part 3 No 8. Chorus. Thy pleasures, Moderation, give (Il Moderato)

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About
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About

After the success of Alexander's Feast, a setting of the much admired ode by John Dryden, it was wondered: would the result be greater still if Handel could be persuaded to set the words of a poet even greater than Dryden? Such were the thoughts of an important group of Handel's friends centred around the philosopher James Harris and including Charles Jennens (later the librettist of Messiah) and the Fourth Earl of Shaftesbury. It was under their influence that Handel came to set the poetry of John Milton, first in L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, and later in the oratorio Samson. Jennens helped to prepare the libretto for L'Allegro, the first two parts of which are adapted from Milton's two complementary poems, L'Allegro ('The Merry Man') and Il Penseroso ('The Thoughtful Man'), respectively celebrating the different joys of two opposed personalities. The initial idea of interweaving lines from the two poems to make a text for musical setting actually came from James Harris, who also provided the first draft of the libretto. By 19 January 1740 the libretto was finished, and with Handel's enthusiasm and speed in writing the first performance took place on 27 February! There is no definitive version of the work as Handel made many changes over time. However, the intention of this perfomance is to retain the freshness of Handel's original vision with the advantage of the best of his second thoughts.

Reviews

2010

This is the first truly complete recording of Handel's delectable pastoral ode. The early numbers of L'Allegro – literally 'the cheerful man' – have a spontaneous exuberance barely matched in Handel's output, while much of the music of Il penseroso ('The melancholy man') attains a contemplative ecstasy found elsewhere only in parts of Theodora. The whole work is suffused with an almost pantheistic sense of wonder and delight in the natural world. While alive to the al fresco gaiety of numbers such as 'Mirth, admit me of thy crew' and 'O let the merry bells', Robert King gives full value to the tranquil reflectiveness that lies at the core of the work, favouring broad tempos and gravely expressive phrasing. Occasionally, as in the soprano aria 'Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures', his approach seems a shade too reverential.
But for the most part he directs this glorious music with affection and relish, abetted by vivid orchestral playing and a typically responsive contribution from the chorus.
Susan Gritton is a soprano of rare accomplishment, with a warm, pure, yet highly individual timbre and a wonderful feeling for the broad Handelian line. Both the scena 'Come pensive nun' and the romantic nocturne 'Oft on a plat of rising ground', with its haunting evocation of 'the far-off curfew', are intensely moving; and, with the cellist Jane Coe, she makes an eloquent case for the long florid aria 'But O! sad virgin', omitted in the Gardiner recording. Lorna Anderson, if a mite less secure above the stave, brings an appealing plangent tone to the nightingale aria 'Sweet bird' (done complete here, whereas Gardiner makes drastic cuts) and a trancelike absorption to the sublime 'Hide me from Day's garish eye'. Some slightly odd vowel sounds apart, Claron McFadden's bright, eager tones and nimble coloratura serve the more extrovert arias well; Neal Davies is sturdy in his bucolic hunting number and mellifluous in his minuet aria in Il moderato; and Paul Agnew is personable and stylish, though his legato is rather shown up by Susan Gritton's in 'As steals the morn'.

Offer,Handel: L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato

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