Handel: Jephtha
$11.98 – $24.98
Music of the Baroque Chorus & Orchestra
Dame Jane Glover, conductor
The FIRST AMERICAN RECORDING of the great baroque composer GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL’s final masterpiece JEPHTHA (HWV 70) with libretto by THOMAS MORELL!
REFERENCE RECORDINGS® proudly presents great baroque composer George Frideric Handel’s final masterpiece: Jephtha, HWV 70! Recorded live in September 2022 by multi-GRAMMY®-award winning engineer Christopher Willis, conducted by Dame Jane Glover, and performed by Chicago-based Music of the Baroque Chorus & Orchestra. This marks the first American commercial recording of Jephtha, Handel’s most sublime, emotionally intense work and an absolutely gorgeous baroque masterpiece.
Now in its fifth decade, Music of the Baroque is one of the leading professional ensembles in America devoted to 17th and 18th-century works. The Chicago Sun-Times writes, “Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra may be the big guys on the local classical music scene, but in terms of sheer quality of performance… Music of the Baroque inhabits the same stratosphere.”
Acclaimed British conductor Jane Glover, named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2021 New Year’s Honours, has been Music of the Baroque’s music director since 2002. Jane Glover has conducted all the major symphony and chamber orchestras in Britain, as well as orchestras in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australia. She has worked with the period instrument orchestras Philharmonia Baroque and the Handel & Haydn Society. A Mozart specialist, she has conducted all the Mozart operas all over the world regularly, and her core operatic repertoire also includes Monteverdi, Handel, and Britten.
Proudly featuring these STELLAR SOLOISTS:
David Portillo, tenor (Jephtha)
Lauren Snouffer, soprano (Iphis)
Clara Osowski, mezzo-soprano (Storgè)
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor (Hamor)
Neal Davies, bass-baritone (Zebul)
Katelyn Lee, soprano (Angel)
Extra notes
2 CD Set with Detailed Liner Notes and Libretto
Also Available in Standard and High Resolution Digital Stereo; Apple Spatial®/Atmos®; Streaming
Recorded live in September 2022 by multi-GRAMMY®-award winning engineer CHRISTOPHER WILLIS.
On This Recording
George Frideric Handel: Jephtha, HWV 70
- 1. Overture
- 2. It must be so
- 3. Pour forth no more
- 4. No more to Ammon's god and king
- 5. But Jephtha comes, kind heaven
- 6. Virtue my soul shall stil embrace
- 7. 'Twill be a painful separation
- 8. In gentle murmurs will I mourn
- 9. Happy this embassy
- 10. Dull delay in piercing anguish
- 11. Ill suits the voice of love
- 12. Take the heard you fondly gave
- 13. I go, my soul
- 14. These labours past
- 15. What mean these doubtful fancies
- 16. If Lord, sustained
- 17. Tis said, Attend ye Chiefs
- 18. O God behold our sore distress
- 19. Some dire event hangs o'er our heads
- 20. Scenes of horror
- 21. Say, my dear mother
- 22. The smiling dawn of happy days
- 23. Such, Jephtha, was the haughty king's reply
- 24. When his loud voice in thunder spake
- 25. Glad tidings of great joy
- 27. Up the dreadful steep ascending
- 28. 'Tis well, haste, haste, ye maidens
- 29. Tune the soft melodious lute
- 30. Again Heaven smiles
- 31. Freedom now once more
- 33. His mighty arm
- 34. In glory high
- 36. Hail, glorious conqueror
- 37. Welcome as the cheerful light
- 38. Welcome though, whose deeds
- 39. Horror! Confusion!
- 40. Open thy marble jaws
- 41. Why is my brother thus afflicted?
- 42. First perish though
- 43. If such thy cruel purpose
- 44. On me let blind mistaken zeal
- 45. O spare your daughter
- 46. Such news flies swift
- 47. For joys so vast
- 48. Happy they
- 49. Deeper and deeper still
- 50. How dark, O Lord, are thy decrees!
- 51. Hide thou thy hated beams
- 52. A father, off ring up his only child
- 53. Waft her, angels, through the skies
- 54. Ye sacred priests
- 55. Farewell, ye limpid springs and floods
- 56. Doubtful fear and reverent awe
- 58. Rise, Jephtha, and ye reverend priests
- 59. Happy, Iphis, shalt thou live
- 60. For ever blessed be thy holy name
- 61. Theme sublime of endless praise
- 62. Let me congratulate
- 63. Laud her, all ye virgin train
- 64. O let me fold thee
- 66. With transport, Iphis
- 68. My faithful Hamor
- 70. All that is in Hamor mine
- 71. Ye house of Gilead
Reviews:
“David Portillo is presented with charisma, self-confident, with a spectacular vocal dexterity in the role of Jephtha. We would like to highlight the countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, who was very strong, and the brilliant soprano Lauren Snouffer as Iphis, who gave an equally impressive reading. We were surprised by the expressive singing of Clara Osowski as Storgè. Finally, we liked the pure voice of Neal Davies, bass-baritone playing Zebul, and the vocal presence of Katelyn Lee as the angel. The chorus is one of the highlights of this version, while the orchestra invites the listener to enjoy the true instrumental colors of the period. Dame Jane Glover conducts with unrelenting conviction, as well as a refined sensitivity and a passionate and ardent focus” —Carme Miró, Sonograma
