Chandos Anthems Vol.4 No. 10 & 11

George Frederick Handel (Composer), Harry Christophers (Conductor), Sixteen Orchestra (Orchestra), Lynne Dawson (Performer), Ian Partridge (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Lynne Dawson, Ian Partridge
• Orchestra: Sixteen Orchestra
• Conductor: Harry Christophers
• Composer: George Frederick Handel
• Audio CD (July 29, 1992)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B000000A4D
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #344,982 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Masterly, Choral Splendor, November 26, 2005

By 

Leslie Richford (Selsingen, Lower Saxony) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chandos Anthems Vol.4 No. 10 & 11 (Audio CD)

Harry Christophers and the Sixteen Choir and Orchestra seem to have been much more at home with Handel’s English Chandos Anthems than they were with Bach’s St. John Passion, which they also recorded in the spring of 1989. This fourth CD containing Anthems No. 10 and 11 is quite brilliantly done: Handel was at his greatest, using the slightly increased forces at the future Duke of Chandos’ chapel to the best of effects. Psalm texts such as: “The earth trembled and quak’d, the very foundation of the hills shook, and were removed […]. They are brought down and fall’n, but we are risen” brought out the maximum in imitative orchestral writing and choral splendour, and the closing fugue of “Let God Arise” could, despite the limited forces available, almost be mistaken for one of the “purple patches” from “Messiah”.
Anthem No. 10 (“The Lord is My Light and My Salvation”) is written for five part choir with three tenor solo airs and one short but very effective soprano air, masterfully performed by Lynne Dawson. Anthem No. 11 (“Let God Arise”) is mainly choral, with the two soloists having only one short air each. Ian Partridge is perhaps not quite as convincing as Lynne Dawson but does all that is required of him; the orchestra (this time with four each of first and second violins plus three cellos and a double bass in the strings, then two recorders, an oboe and a bassoon as woodwind and organ continuo) sounds decidedly mature in comparison with, say, the first volume and provides some highly entertaining moments.

The only slightly sour point about this particular CD is the playing time of merely 49 minutes, but if you are collecting Handel’s sacred works, that should in no wise deter you from buying and listening to this superb music.