Hyperion: Handel — The Choice of Hercules — The King's Consort, Robert King (CD)

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Hyperion
• Composer: George Frideric Handel
• Main Work: The Choice of Hercules, HWV 69 (1751)
• Coupling: Maurice Greene — Hearken Unto Me, Ye Holy Children
• Soloists: Susan Gritton (soprano, Pleasure), Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano, Virtue), Robin Blaze (countertenor, Hercules), Charles Daniels (tenor, Attendant on Pleasure), Peter Harvey (bass, in the Greene)
• Choir: Choir of The King's Consort
• Orchestra: The King's Consort
• Conductor: Robert King
• Catalogue Number: CDA67298
• UPC: 034571172989
• Genre: Classical / Baroque / Choral

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Total runtime: approx. 65 minutes 32 seconds
• Recording type: DDD
• Booklet notes in English, French, German
• Made in France
• Condition: Brand New, Factory Sealed

Overview

The Choice of Hercules is one of Handel's least-known works, and one of his most charming. It dramatizes the old moral fable in which the young Hercules is approached by two figures — Pleasure and Virtue — each making her case for the life he should lead. Handel wrote it in 1751, late in his career, partly reusing music he'd composed for a play, and the result is a compact, tuneful "musical interlude" rather than a full oratorio.

This Hyperion recording took the 2003 International Handel Recording Prize, and the casting is part of why. Susan Gritton's Pleasure is all seductive ease; Alice Coote's Virtue answers with weight and conviction; and countertenor Robin Blaze sings the wavering Hercules caught between them. Robert King and The King's Consort play it for its hedonistic charm rather than its sermon — the Daily Telegraph noted how clearly they relish the work.

The disc is filled out with Maurice Greene's anthem Hearken Unto Me, Ye Holy Children, a fine piece by Handel's English contemporary, sung here by Blaze, Charles Daniels, and Peter Harvey.

A rewarding pick for Handel collectors, lovers of English Baroque choral music, and anyone tracking The King's Consort's long Hyperion Handel series.

Interesting Facts

• The Choice of Hercules took the 2003 International Handel Recording Prize.
• Handel composed it in 1751, late in life, partly reworking incidental music he had written for Tobias Smollett's play Alceste, which was never staged.
• The "Choice of Hercules" theme — virtue versus pleasure at a crossroads — comes from the ancient Greek sophist Prodicus and was a popular subject in 18th-century art and music.
• Maurice Greene, whose anthem fills out the disc, was Handel's English contemporary and organist of St Paul's Cathedral and the Chapel Royal.
• The work is built around the allegorical trio of Pleasure (soprano), Virtue (mezzo), and the undecided Hercules (countertenor).
• This release is part of Robert King's ongoing Hyperion survey of Handel's choral and dramatic music.

Track Listing

The booklet's track-by-track breakdown with timings isn't legible in the photos provided. Send a clear image of the track list and I'll add the full tracklist with timings.

Publishers

Released by Hyperion Records Limited (London, England). Made in France. Recording type DDD; total duration approx. 65'32.

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