Georg Frideric Handel - Theodora - William Christie

Georg Frideric Handel - Theodora
Frode Olsen, David Daniels, Richard Croft, 

Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt, Michael Hart-Davis
The Glyndebourne chorus
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
William Christie
Recording 1996

Here is, on my opinion, one of the best Handel's oratorios, at least as inspired as Messiah. Arias and chorus are moving, sometimes tender and sometimes violent or impassioned. It was registred in 1996 during the Glyndebourne festival and you can hear people laughing or applauding but not after each aria and the recording is very clear. There was only a DVD for this great and vivid recording : it is now available in CD (set up of captations between may 14th and june 18th), for those who like to listen only to the music and imagine the stage. Just listen to this masterpiece and if you don't cry when listening the late lamented Lorraine Hunt singing "As with rosy steps the morn avancing" (CD1, 18), I accept to eat my hat!...

5 Diapasons - Septembre 2012 ("Au disque, peut-être LA référence.")