Handel: Streams of pleasure

George Frideric Handel (Composer), Alan Curtis (Conductor), Il Complesso Barocco (Orchestra), Karina Gauvin (Performer), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Karina Gauvin, Marie-Nicole Lemieux
• Orchestra: Il Complesso Barocco
• Conductor: Alan Curtis
• Composer: George Frideric Handel
• Audio CD (September 27, 2011)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naïve
• ASIN: B005FMQB4W
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,212 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Belshazzar, oratorio, HWV 61: Destructive war'

2. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: To Thee, thou glorious son of worth

3. Alexander Balus, oratorio, HWV 65: Fury with red sparkling eyes

4. Susanna, oratorio, HWV 66: Lead me - Crystal streams in murmurs flowings

5. Judas Maccabaeus, oratorio, HWV 63: From this dread scene

6. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Streams of pleasure ever flowing

7. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: Ah! whither should we fly? - As with rosy steps the morn

8. Joseph and His Brethren, oratorio, HWV 59: Prophetic raptures swell my breast

9. Joshua, oratorio, HWV 64: Our limpid streams with freedom flow

10. Solomon, oratorio, HWV 67: Can I see my infant gor'd

11. Alexander Balus, oratorio, HWV 65: Fair virtue shall charm me

12. Solomon, oratorio, HWV 67: Thou fair inhabitant - Welcome as the dawn of day

13. Hercules, oratorio, HWV 60: Forgive me - My father

14. Theodora, oratorio, HWV 68: But why art thou disquieted - Oh! that I on wings could rise

15. Belshazzar, oratorio, HWV 61: Great victor, at your feet I bow

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Handel Oratorio arias and duets in Operatic style, October 12, 2011

By 

Chris Protopapas (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Handel: Streams of pleasure (Audio CD)

This is an excellent selection of works for soprano and mezzo drawn from Handel's English oratorios. Most of the duets are familiar choices, dazzlingly beautiful items from Theodora, Solomon, Belshazzar and Joshua. The solo arias go a little further afield, with selections from Joseph and his Brethren and Alexander Balus. This is a beautiful album, with one caveat: the singing style is more "operatic" than we are used to these days in recordings of Handel oratorio excerpts. This is not surprising, since both Karina Gauvin and Marie-Nicole Lemieux are veterans of Alan Curtis' ongoing complete Handel opera cycle, and tackle this music with a dramatic expressiveness (and a certain amount of vibrato) that is quite different from my benchmark in this repertory, the fabulous Carolyn Sampson/Robin Blaze "Great Oratorio Duets" with Nicholas Kraemer. This is not so much an objection as a matter of taste on my part, and I can't think of any reason why anyone who loves Handel's oratorios would not immediately rush out and buy this album. The sheer nerve of Marie-Nicole Lemieux to record "As with Rosy steps the Morn" from Theodora in the the footsteps of Lorraine Hunt's transcendent version, and making it her own, is worth the price of the disc.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Blend, Perfect Balance, Perfect Handel!, October 17, 2011

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Handel: Streams of pleasure (Audio CD)

Two ladies from Quebec - mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux and soprano Karina Gauvin in conjunction with Alan Curtis and his Complesso Barocco - bring one of the most beautifully constructed and performed recordings of the year. In order to completely enjoy this superb recording try watching the episodes on YouTube of the recording sessions, sessions which also include conversations between these two enormously gifted divas. They are both Quebecois, studied in the same school, and have performed together enough that they fully understand each other's voice. And the result is a blending of vocal production that is as perfect as any artists singing duets.

Much of the pleasure of this recording is the fact that the arias and duets selected by the artists (under the guiding hand of Alan Curtis) are all from Handel oratorios, but instead of a re-play of works included on every singer's recital these works are the lesser known arias and duets. The oratorios represented in this are Belshazzar, Theodora, Alexander Balus, Susanna, Judas Maccabaeus, Joshua, Joseph and His Brethren, Hercules, and Solomon. Not only are both singers in very fine form for these arias and duets, but they are accompanied by Alan Curtis and his Complesso Barocco, one of the most famous and renowned ensembles in the baroque music field.

One unsuspected benefit in this recital is the fact that the diction is so superb that one would never suspect that French is their native language. Some may say that the French vowel production adds to the immaculately tuned combination of voices singing together. Whatever the reasons many may find to be the magic key to the brilliance of this recital, it really is inconsequential information. The sound is beautiful and the spirit of Handel lives in the 'streams of pleasure' these two consummate artists performances. Grady Harp, October 11