Composer: George Frideric Handel
Performer: Monteverdi Choir
Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists
Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: SDG
Release: 2020
Size: 2.83 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Semele:
01. Overture
ACT 1
02. Gavotte
03. Behold! Auspicious Flashes Rise
04. Lucky Omens Bless Our Rites
05. Daughter, Obey
06. Ah Me!
07. O Jove! In Pity Teach Me Which to Choose
08. Alas! She Yields
09. Why Dost Thou Thus Untimely Grieve
10. Avert These Omens, All Ye Pow’rs
11. Again Auspicious Flashes Rise
12. Cease, Cease Your Vows, ‘Tis Impious to Proceed
13. Turn, Hopeless Lover, Turn Thy Eyes
14. Your Tuneful Voice My Tale Would Tell
15. Too Well I See
16. You’ve Undone Me
17. Ah! Wretched Prince
18. Hail Cadmus, Hail!
19. Endless Pleasure, Endless Love
ACT 2
20. Sinfonia
21. Iris, Impatient of Thy Stay
22. There, from Mortal Cares Retiring
23. Awake, Saturnia, from Thy Lethargy!
24. Hence, Iris, Hence Away
25. Come, Zephyrs, Come, While Cupid Sings
26. O Sleep, Why Dost Thou Leave Me
27. Let Me Not Another Moment
28. Lay Your Doubts and Fears Aside
29. You Are Mortal and Require
30. With Fond Desiring
31. How Engaging, How Endearing
32. Ah, Me!
33. I Must with Speed Amuse Her
34. Now Love That Everlasting Boy Invites
35. By My Command
36. Where’er You Walk, Cool Gales Shall Fan the Glade
37. Dear Sister, How Was Your Passage Hither?
38. But Hark! The Heav’nly Sphere Turns Round
39. Prepare Then, Ye Immortal Choir
40. Bless the Glad Earth with Heav’nly Lays
ACT 3
41. Sinfonia
42. Somnus, Awake
43. Leave Me, Loathsome Light
44. Dull God, Canst Thou Attend the Water’s Fall
45. More Sweet Is That Name
46. My Will Obey
47. Obey My Will, Thy Rod Resign
48. My Racking Thoughts by No Kind Slumbers Freed
49. Thus Shap’d Like Ino
50. Myself I Shall Adore
51. Be Wise As You Are Beautiful
52. Thus Let My Thanks Be Paid
53. Rich Odours Fill the Fragrant Air
54. Come to My Arms, My Lovely Fair
55. O Semele!
56. Speak, Speak Your Desire
57. Ah, Take Heed What You Press
58. No, No, I’ll Take No Less
59. Ah, Whither Is She Gone, Unhappy Fair?
60. Above Measure
61. Ah me! Too Late I Now Repent
62. O Terror and Astonishment!
63. How I Was Hence Remov’d
64. Despair No More Shall Wound Me
65. See from Above the Bellying Clouds Descend
66. Sinfonia
67. Apollo Comes, to Relieve Your Care
68. Happy, Happy We Shall Be
Dan D’Souza (baritone)
Carlo Vistoli (counter-tenor)
Gianluca Buratto (bass)
Louise Alder (soprano)
Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano)
Angharad Rowlands (mezzo-soprano)
Emily Owen (soprano)
Angela Hicks (soprano)
Hugo Hymas (tenor)
Peter Davoren (tenor)
English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir
Sir John Eliot Gardiner
“In Spring 2019, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, led by John Eliot Gardiner, presented a critically-acclaimed European tour of Handel’s opera ‘Semele’, including Alexandra Palace Theatre in London, where this live recording took place. Semele had not been performed by John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi ensembles since they originally recorded it in the 1980s and this recording gives listeners the chance to hear a fuller version of the work. A glamorous team of young soloists joins the Monteverdi ensembles to bring the story of Semele to life, including celebrated English soprano Louise Alder, who takes on the title role, with the young tenor Hugo Hymas portraying the amorous Jupiter. “”Semele’s musical score is a glorious blend of irresistible solo arias – some virtuosic showstoppers, others lyrical, sensual and evocative, ensembles, duets, accompanied recitatives and (unlike his operas) imposing choruses. Still more than when I first performed it and recorded it almost forty years ago, I feel Semele’s time has finally come.””John Eliot Gardiner”