Recordings > Opera and Oratorio
HANDEL:
Israel in Egypt
Joshua, Romberger; van Rensburg, Pauly; Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Concerto Köln, Dijkstra. English text with German translation. BR Klassik 900501 (2)
There's no point in putting on Israel in Egypt without a top-notch choir, and the Bavarian Radio Choir is one of the best in the world. Their director since 2005 has been Dutch-born Peter Dijkstra, who leads a superbly informed, well-paced reading of Handel's Old Testament oratorio, with the excellent period ensemble Concerto Köln contributing mightily.
The work was not a success in Handel's lifetime, and his regular opera audience (and perhaps today's, as well) had several reasons for not taking to it. For one, soloists are featured importantly but rarely, with some duets, recits and chorus lead-ins but only four actual arias, none of them in the showy da capo form. For its second performance Handel tried letting the prima donna insert some Italian arias — imagine this today! — but still the oratorio tanked, achieving its present status as a choral staple only in the nineteenth century.
Although Handel's librettist is uncredited, fingers point to Charles Jennens, who also assembled the biblical verses that make up Messiah, a similar work in many ways, lacking a theatrical story-line and named characters. To the original two-part work, Exodus and Moses's Song, Handel attached his recently performed Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline, written in memory of the queen consort of George II, changing some words to turn the lamenting toward Joseph, the Israelites' patriarch.
Israel in Egypt's biggest attractions are Handel's many massed choruses, some in eight-part double-choir texture, and difficult choral fugues, which Dijkstra and his forces tear into with thrilling energy and superbly balanced sound throughout a wide dynamic range.
Part Two, which notes the plagues God sent Egypt for holding the Israelites captive, boasts some remarkable passages. Handel's sense of humor finds delightful release in the leaping string figures of the alto solo, "Their land brought forth frogs," and in the buzzing violins when "there came all manner of flies" (in the chorus "He spake the word"). Pounding hailstones and a thick darkness are depicted musically, with fine detail in this performance, eventually giving way to the pastoral motives of "He led them forth like sheep." Handel even allowed the chorus some recitative in the mysterious "He sent a thick darkness over all the land," where the bassoon brings special plangency to the texture, and used the drums (without their usual companion, the trumpets) at the horrible "But the waters overwhelmed their enemies."
Soprano Rosemary Joshua sings with her usual warmth, while Kobie van Rensburg sounds wilder but always theatrically committed. New to me is alto Gerhild Romberger, who has an appealing androgenous sound, smooth and focused, as well as fine command of English. (The notorious passage "blotches and blains" has brought many altos to grief.)
This is one of the best Handel oratorio recordings to come out of Germany, a nice reminder of the composer's homeland and the country that helped popularize Israel in Egypt. 
JUDITH MALAFRONTE
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