Customer Reviews

Händel: Dixit Dominus; Caldara: Missa dolorosa [Hybrid SACD]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is good to hear Handel's youthful psalm setting in SACD and there certainly isn't much competition for the Caldara. The choral work is OK, a little squally in the sopranos and shaky in intonation. The period orchestra is colorful and plays pretty well. What sinks this recording, for me, is the effortful singing of Handel's solo lines in the Dixit setting. Intonation is shaky and the hooty, insecure sound of the countertenor in "Virgam virtutis" almost made me take the disc out of player. The tenor soloist won't win any prizes either. The light voiced bass is the best of the lot.

The choral work improves in the Caldara, but the complaints about soloists apply here as well. I suspect most prospective purchasers will be buying this disc primarily for the Handel and the competition (Parrott's complete Carmelite Vespers, from which the work is extracted, on EMI to cite one) is simply too strong to recommend this effort, great sound notwithstanding.

I mainly write to confirm what an earlier reviewer suggested: yes, the Handel is a *treacherously* difficult work to sing, perhaps even more for the choir than for the soloists.

This entire recording, btw, is (currently!) up on YouTube. Do a search on "handel dixit dominus"; it's in four parts, the one with the baldacchino graphic.

I personally think this is a "fun" recording of the work, owing to the tempi and the continuo instrumentation. There are a few vocal problems here and there.

I bought this disc because I like baroque music, especially Handel and Caldara both are the one of my favors. They occurs together in one disc so that I want to try how Hengelbrock express his music.
I summary my comments as list
1.Its recording is outstanding, whatever you listen with CD or SACD player.
2.In fact, Handel's Dixit it doesn't shown with solemn, but more theatrically, as his opera music, it will be easygoing,
3.Caldara's music is as his characteristic, peace and smooth beauty.
It is a great experience to listen.

Handel's "Dixit Dominus" must be a harder peice to perform successfully than it looks to be in score. There are more than ten performances available on CD right now, by reputable ensembles all. Of the five I'm familiar with, each has some serious shortcoming. The most enjoyable overall is that of the Monteverdi Choir with John Eliot Gardiner, with the Andrew Parrott/Taverner Choir (incorporating Dixit into a "reconstructed" Carmelite Vespers) as an uncertain second.

The problem with this CD by the Balthazar Neumann Ensemble is the tuning of the soloists, which ranges from uncertain to atrocious. This is all the more surprising in that I've heard all of these soloists, and expecially Constanze Backes, sing spectacularly on other occasions. What on earth went wrong? Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock sets blistering tempi throughout, but the orchestra has no trouble so why should the singers falter? Hengelbrock's interpretation of this motet is fiercely energetic, fiery even, and it would be a delight to hear if only most of the singing were in tune. Alas, helas, ohime, eheu, oy Weh!

The Caldara Missa Dolorosa is an extremely interesting piece, original enough to give Caldara's reputation a huge boost in our times, and it's better performed by far than the Dixit Dominus. It's hard, nevertheless, to recommend only half of a CD.