Dunedin Consort & John Butt – Handel: Samson (Full Chorus Version) (2020) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Dunedin Consort continues to apply its pioneering approach to recordings by releasing two alternative performing versions of one of Handel’s greatest dramatic works, Samson. This is the Full Chorus Version.

This version employs an authentic Handelian chorus, comprising both boy trebles from the Tiffin Boys’ Choir and solo sopranos – a sonority largely unheard in the modern age.

This powerful oratorio – an opera in all but name – features Joshua Ellicott in the title role with soloists Sophie Bevan, Matthew Brook, Mary Bevan, Hugo Hymas, Jess Dandy, Vitali Rozynko and Fflur Wyn. Matching the revelatory historical practice begun in its award-winning recording of Messiah (Dublin Version, 1742), the soloists lead their sections to unite the solo and choral forces, creating a highly effective and cohesive sound. With rich orchestration and highlights such as ‘Let the bright seraphim’ and ‘Total eclipse’, Samson is Dunedin Consort’s most ambitious undertaking to date.

The singers available to Handel for the work’s first set of performances in 1743 varied considerably, leading many researchers to speculate upon the composer’s own preferences. Dunedin Consort has also recorded a Small Chorus Version which recreates the sonority heard at the work’s premiere in 1743 (as suggested by the research of Donald Burrows), which consists of the soloists alone. Customers who purchase the Full Chorus Version may email us to request a complimentary download of the Small Chorus Version.

This new Samson now becomes the top recommendation: for its uniformly excellent soloists, its excitingly ‘present’ choral singing and, above all, its more urgent sense of theatre…Sophie and Mary Bevan, both natural Handelian stylists, are well-nigh ideal… Jess Dandy, a true contralto, is the oratorio’s voice of balm, singing the sublime prayer ‘Return, O God of hosts’ with warm, even tone and broad phrasing. – Gramophone Magazine, December 2019

Butt directs with vigour: Joshua Ellicott could hardly be a more different Samson from the stentorian Jon Vickers of yesteryear, light and eloquent; Sophie Bevan is a sensual Delilah, while Dunedin regulars excel. – The Observer, 17th November 2019

Tracklist:

01. Samson, HWV 57: I. Symphony: Andante (3:29)
02. Samson, HWV 57: II. Symphony: Allegro (1:36)
03. Samson, HWV 57: III. Symphony: Menuet (2:30)
04. Samson, HWV 57: IV. Act 1 Scene 1: This Day, a Solemn Feast (Recitative) (0:34)
05. Samson, HWV 57: V. Act 1 Scene 1: Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound! (Chorus) (2:05)
06. Samson, HWV 57: VI. Act 1 Scene 1: Ye Men of Gaza (Air) (4:06)
07. Samson, HWV 57: VII. Act 1 Scene 1: Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound! (Chorus) (0:30)
08. Samson, HWV 57: VIII. Act 1 Scene 1: Loud As the Thunder’s Awful Voice (Air) (2:53)
09. Samson, HWV 57: IX. Act 1 Scene 1: Then Free from Sorrow (Air) (2:33)
10. Samson, HWV 57: X. Act 1 Scene 1: Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound! (Chorus) (0:30)
11. Samson, HWV 57: XI. Act 1 Scene 1: Why by an Angel (Recitative) (0:49)
12. Samson, HWV 57: XII. Act 1 Scene 1: Torments, Alas, Are Not Confin’d (Air) (4:53)
13. Samson, HWV 57: XIII. Act 1 Scene 2: Oh, Change Beyond Report (Recitative) (0:49)
14. Samson, HWV 57: XIV. Act 1 Scene 2: O Mirror of Our Fickle State! (Air) (3:39)
15. Samson, HWV 57: XV. Act 1 Scene 2: Whom Have I to Complain of but Myself (Recitative) (3:00)
16. Samson, HWV 57: XVI. Act 1 Scene 2: Total Eclipse! (Air) (4:04)
17. Samson, HWV 57: XVII. Act 1 Scene 2: Since Light so Necessary Is to Life (Accompagnato) (1:17)
18. Samson, HWV 57: XVIII. Act 1 Scene 2: O First Created Beam (Chorus) (3:11)
19. Samson, HWV 57: XIX. Act 1 Scene 2: Ye See, My Friends (Recitative) (1:57)
20. Samson, HWV 57: XX. Act 1 Scene 3: Brethren and Men of Dan (Recitative) (0:32)
21. Samson, HWV 57: XXI. Act 1 Scene 3: Oh, Miserable Change! (Accompagnato) (0:59)
22. Samson, HWV 57: XXII. Act 1 Scene 3: Oh, Ever Failing Trust (Recitative) (0:13)
23. Samson, HWV 57: XXIII. Act 1 Scene 3: God of Our Fathers (Air) (2:29)
24. Samson, HWV 57: XXIV. Act 1 Scene 3: The Good We Wish for (Accompagnato) (1:16)
25. Samson, HWV 57: XXV. Act 1 Scene 3: Thy Glorious Deeds Inspir’d My Tongue (Air) (4:26)
26. Samson, HWV 57: XXVI. Act 1 Scene 3: Justly These Evils (Recitative) (1:41)
27. Samson, HWV 57: XXVII. Act 1 Scene 3: My Griefs for This (Accompagnato) (1:03)
28. Samson, HWV 57: XXVIII. Act 1 Scene 3: Why Does the God of Israel Sleep? (Air) (4:40)
29. Samson, HWV 57: XXIX. Act 1 Scene 3: There Lies Our Hope! (Recitative) (0:23)
30. Samson, HWV 57: XXX. Act 1 Scene 3: Then Shall They Know (Chorus) (2:28)
31. Samson, HWV 57: XXXI. Act 1 Scene 3: For Thee, My Dearest Son (Recitative) (1:42)
32. Samson, HWV 57: XXXII. Act 1 Scene 3: My Genial Spirits Droop (Accompagnato) (1:29)
33. Samson, HWV 57: XXXIII. Act 1 Scene 3: Then Long Eternity Shall Greet Your Bliss (Arioso) (2:09)
34. Samson, HWV 57: XXXIV. Act 1 Scene 3: Joys That Are Pure (Air) (3:01)
35. Samson, HWV 57: XXXV. Act 1 Scene 3: Then Round About the Starry Throne (Chorus) (2:32)
36. Samson, HWV 57: I. Act 2 Scene 1: Despair Not Thus! (Recitative) (1:25)
37. Samson, HWV 57: II. Act 2 Scene 1: Just Are the Ways of God to Man (Air) (3:07)
38. Samson, HWV 57: III. Act 2 Scene 1: My Evils Hopeless Are! (Recitative) (0:31)
39. Samson, HWV 57: IV. Act 2 Scene 1: Return, O God of Hosts! (Air and Chorus) (7:53)
40. Samson, HWV 57: V. Act 2 Scene 2: But Who Is This (Recitative) (3:24)
41. Samson, HWV 57: VI. Act 2 Scene 2: With Plaintive Notes (Air) (7:14)
42. Samson, HWV 57: VII. Act 2 Scene 2: Alas! Th’Event Was Worse (Recitative) (0:59)
43. Samson, HWV 57: VIII. Act 2 Scene 2: Your Charms to Ruin Led the Way (Air) (2:48)
44. Samson, HWV 57: IX. Act 2 Scene 2: Forgive What’s Done (Recitative) (0:31)
45. Samson, HWV 57: X. Act 2 Scene 2: My Faith and Truth (Duet) (4:26)
46. Samson, HWV 57: XI. Act 2 Scene 2: Her Faith and Truth (Chorus) (1:12)
47. Samson, HWV 57: XII. Act 2 Scene 2: To Fleeting Pleasures Make Your Court (Air) (3:06)
48. Samson, HWV 57: XIII. Act 2 Scene 2: Her Faith and Truth (Chorus) (1:11)
49. Samson, HWV 57: XIV. Act 2 Scene 2: Ne’er Think of That! (Recitative) (1:35)
50. Samson, HWV 57: XV. Act 2 Scene 2: Traitor to Love (Duet) (1:39)
51. Samson, HWV 57: XVI. Act 2 Scene 3: She’s Gone! (Recitative) (0:20)
52. Samson, HWV 57: XVII. Act 2 Scene 3: It Is Not Virtue (Air) (4:00)
53. Samson, HWV 57: XVIII. Act 2 Scene 3: Favour’d of Heav’n Is He (Recitative) (0:21)
54. Samson, HWV 57: XIX. Act 2 Scene 3: To Man God’s Universal Law (Chorus) (2:34)
55. Samson, HWV 57: XX. Act 2 Scene 4: No Words of Peace (Recitative) (1:55)
56. Samson, HWV 57: XXI. Act 2 Scene 4: Honour and Arms Scorn Such a Foe (Air) (5:44)
57. Samson, HWV 57: XXII. Act 2 Scene 4: Put on Your Arms (Recitative) (0:11)
58. Samson, HWV 57: XXIII. Act 2 Scene 4: My Strength Is from the Living God (Air) (2:56)
59. Samson, HWV 57: XXIV. Act 2 Scene 4: With Thee, a Man Condemn’d (Recitative) (0:52)
60. Samson, HWV 57: XXV. Act 2 Scene 4: Go, Baffled Coward, Go (Duet) (2:18)
61. Samson, HWV 57: XXVI. Act 2 Scene 4: Here Lie the Proof (Recitative) (0:51)
62. Samson, HWV 57: XXVII. Act 2 Scene 4: Hear, Jacob’s God (Chorus) (3:24)
63. Samson, HWV 57: XXVIII. Act 2 Scene 4: Dagon, Arise (Recitative) (0:16)
64. Samson, HWV 57: XXIX. Act 2 Scene 4: To Song and Dance We Give the Day (Air) (4:06)
65. Samson, HWV 57: XXX. Act 2 Scene 4: To Song and Dance We Give the Day (Chorus) (2:04)
66. Samson, HWV 57: XXXI. Act 2 Scene 4: Fix’d in His Everlasting Seat (Chorus and Soli) (3:04)
67. Samson, HWV 57: I. Act 3 Scene 1: More Trouble Is Behind (Recitative) (1:38)
68. Samson, HWV 57: II. Act 3 Scene 1: Presuming Slave, to Move Their Wrath! (Air) (3:23)
69. Samson, HWV 57: III. Act 3 Scene 1: Reflect Then, Samson (Recitative) (0:51)
70. Samson, HWV 57: IV. Act 3 Scene 1: With Thunder Arm’d, Great God, Arise! (Chorus) (2:42)
71. Samson, HWV 57: V. Act 3 Scene 1: Be of Good Courage (Recitative) (2:19)
72. Samson, HWV 57: VI. Act 3 Scene 1: Then Shall I Make Jehovah’s Glory Known! (Accompagnato) (0:31)
73. Samson, HWV 57: VII. Act 3 Scene 1: Thus When the Sun from’s Wat’ry Bed (Air) (4:43)
74. Samson, HWV 57: VIII. Act 3 Scene 1: With Might Endued Above the Sons of Men (Accompagnato) (0:32)
75. Samson, HWV 57: IX. Act 3 Scene 1: The Holy One of Israel (Air and Chorus) (2:22)
76. Samson, HWV 57: X. Act 3 Scene 2: Old Manoa, with Youthful Steps (Recitative) (0:29)
77. Samson, HWV 57: XI. Act 3 Scene 2: Great Dagon Has Subdu’d Our Foe (Air and Chorus) (3:46)
78. Samson, HWV 57: XII. Act 3 Scene 2: What Noise of Joy Was That? (Recitative) (0:50)
79. Samson, HWV 57: XIII. Act 3 Scene 2: How Willing My Paternal Love (Air) (3:44)
80. Samson, HWV 57: XIV. Act 3 Scene 2: Your Hopes of His Deliv’ry (Recitative) (0:17)
81. Samson, HWV 57: XV. Act 3 Scene 2: Symphony: Presto (0:19)
82. Samson, HWV 57: XVI. Act 3 Scene 2: Heav’n! What Noise! (Recitative) (0:06)
83. Samson, HWV 57: XVII. Act 3 Scene 2: Hear Us, Our God! (Chorus) (1:13)
84. Samson, HWV 57: XVIII. Act 3 Scene 2: Noise Call You This? (Recitative) (0:49)
85. Samson, HWV 57: XIX. Act 3 Scene 3: Where Shall I Run (Recitative) (3:49)
86. Samson, HWV 57: XX. Act 3 Scene 3: Ye Sons of Israel, Now Lament (Air and Chorus) (3:43)
87. Samson, HWV 57: XXI. Act 3 Scene 3: Proceed We Hence to Find His Body (Recitative) (1:44)
88. Samson, HWV 57: XXII. Act 3 Scene 3: Glorious Hero (Soli and Chorus) (5:39)
89. Samson, HWV 57: XXIII. Act 3 Scene 3: Come, Come! (Recitative) (1:05)
90. Samson, HWV 57: XXIV. Act 3 Scene 3: Let the Bright Seraphim (Air) (2:58)
91. Samson, HWV 57: XXV. Act 3 Scene 3: Let Their Celestial Concerts All Unite (Chorus) (3:09)

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