Handel: Apollo e Dafne
Boyd Neel Orchestra, Geraint Jones Orchestra
The principal work on the disc is Handel’s dramatic cantata Apollo e Dafne. It is directed by Geraint Jones, another luminary of our resurgent interest in Baroque music. The vocal protagonists...
Handel: Apollo e Dafne
Boyd Neel Orchestra, Geraint Jones Orchestra
Purchase product
The principal work on the disc is Handel’s dramatic cantata Apollo e Dafne. It is directed by Geraint Jones, another luminary of our resurgent interest in Baroque music. The vocal protagonists...
About
Apollo e Dante, Harp Concerto in B-flat, Concerto Grosso in B-flat Beyond its musical riches, this medley of 1950s BBC radio broadcasts (from the Richard Itter Collection) opens a portal on England’s post-war Handelian revival. It is no accident that all these performances involve Thurston Dart, as harpsichordist, conductor or musicologist. His energy inspired a generation of musicians to explore neglected works by Handel and a host of other baroque composers, in a lithe chamber style more appropriate to their work than the heavyweight, orchestral grandeur favoured by previous generations. The efforts of Dart and other performers featured here paved the way for those more radical, ‘historically informed’ performance practices, which swept all before them in later decades.
Contents and tracklist
- Osian Ellis (harp)
- Boyd Neel Orchestra
- Thurston Dart
- Thomas Hemsley (baritone), Arda Mandikian (soprano)
- The Geraint Jones Orchestra
- Geraint Jones
- Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
- Boyd Neel Orchestra
- Alfred Deller (countertenor), Margaret Ritchie (soprano), Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
- Saint Cecilia Orchestra
- Anthony Lewis
Awards and reviews
February 2021
The principal work on the disc is Handel’s dramatic cantata Apollo e Dafne. It is directed by Geraint Jones, another luminary of our resurgent interest in Baroque music. The vocal protagonists are baritone Thomas Hemsley – here on splendid form – and soprano Arda Mandikian.