Composer: George Frideric Handel
Performer: Chœur de Chambre de Namur, Andreas Wolf, Ana Maria Labin, Dara Savinova, Lawrence Zazzo, Matthew Newlin, Gwendoline Blondeel, Chiara Skerath
Orchestra: Millenium Orchestra
Conductor: Leonardo García Alarcón
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Ricercar
Catalogue: RIC437
Release: 2022
Size: 2.98 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Semele, HWV 58
CD 01
01. Overture
Act I
02. No. 1, Behold! Auspicious Flashes Rise (Priest)
03. No. 2, Lucky Omens Bless Our Rites (Chorus of Priests)
04. No. 3, Daughter, Obey, Hear and Obey! (Cadmus, Athamas)
05. No. 4, Ah Me! What Refuge Now is Left Me? (Semele)
06. No. 5, Oh Jove! in Pity Teach Me (Semele)
07. No. 6, The Morning Lark To Mine Accords (Semele)
08. No. 7, See, She Blushing Turns Her Eyes (Athamas)
09. No. 8, Hymen, Haste! (Athamas)
10. No. 9, Alas! She Yields (Ino, Athamas, Semele)
11. No. 10, Why Dost Thou Thus Untimely Grieve (Semele, Ino, Athamas, Cadmus)
12. No. 11, Avert These Omens (Chorus of Priests)
13. No. 12, Again Auspicious Flashes Rise (Cadmus)
14. No. 13, Thy Aid, Pronubial Juno, Athamas Implores! (Athamas, Semele)
15. No. 14, Cease, Cease Your Vow’s (Chorus of Priests)
16. No. 15, O Athamas, What Torture Hast Thou Borne! (Ino)
17. No. 16, Turn, Hopeless Lover (Ino)
18. No. 17, She Weeps! The Gentle Maid in Tender Pity (Athamas)
19. No. 18, Your Tuneful Voice My Tale Would Tell (Athamas)
20. No. 19, Too Well I See, Thou Wilt not Understand Me! (Ino, Athamas)
21. No. 20, Air (Andante Larghetto):You’ve Undone Me, Look not On Me (Ino, Athamas)
22. No. 21, Ah, Wretched Prince (Cadmus, Athamas)
23. No. 22, Wing’d With Our Fears and Pious Haste (Cadmus)
24. No. 23, O Prodigy, to Me of Dire Portent! (Athamas, Ino)
25. No. 24, See, See! Jove’s Priests and Holy Augurs Come (Cadmus)
26. No. 25, Hail Cadmus, Hail! (Chorus of Priests and Augurs)
27. No. 26, Endless Pleasure, Endless Love (Semele)
28. No. 27, Endless Pleasure, Endless Love (Chorus of Priests and Augurs)
CD 02
Act II
01. No. 1, Iris, Impatient of Thy Stay (Juno, Iris)
02. No. 2, There, From Mortal Cares Retiring (Iris)
03. No. 3, No More! I’ll Hear No More! (Juno)
04. No. 4, Awake, Saturnia, From Thy Lethargy! (Juno, Iris)
05. No. 5, Hence, Hence, Iris, Hence Away (Juno)
06. No. 6, O Sleep, Why Dost Thou Leave Me? (Semele)
07. No. 7, Come, Zephyrs, Come (Cupid)
08. No. 8, Let Me not Another Moment (Semele)
09. No. 9, Lay Your Doubts and Fears Aside (Jupiter)
10. No. 10, You Are Mortal (Jupiter)
11. No. 11, With Fond Desiring (Semele)
12. No. 12, How Engaging, How Endearing (Chorus of Loves and Zephyrs)
13. No. 13, Ah Me! Why Sighs My Semele? (Semele, Jupiter)
14. No. 14, I Must With Speed Amuse Her (Jupiter)
15. No. 15, Now Love That Everlasting Boy Invites (Chorus of Loves and Zephyrs)
16. No. 16, By My Command Now (Jupiter, Semele)
17. No. 17, Where’er You Walk, Cool Gales Shall Fan the Glade (Jupiter)
18. No. 18, Dear Sister, How Was Your Passage Hither? (Semele, Ino)
19. No. 19, But Hark! the Heav’nly Sphere Turns Round (Ino)
20. No. 20, Prepare Then, Ye Immortal Choir! (Ino, Semele)
21. No. 21, Bless the Glad Earth With Heav’nly Lays (Chorus of Nymphs)
CD 03
Act III
01. No. 1, Larghetto e piano per tutto
02. No. 2, Somnus, Awake! (Juno, Iris)
03. No. 3, Leave Me, Loathsome Light! (Somnus)
04. No. 4, Dull God, Canst Thou Attend the Water’s Fall (Iris, Juno)
05. No. 5, More Sweet is That Name (Somnus)
06. No. 6, My Will Obey, She Shall Be Thine (Juno, Somnus)
07. No. 7, Obey My Will, Thy Rod Resign (Juno, Somnus)
08. No. 8, Thus Shap’d Like Ino, With Ease I Shall Deceive Her (Juno, Semele)
09. No. 9, Behold in This Mirrour (Juno)
10. No. 10, Myself I Shall Adore (Semele)
11. No. 11, Be Wise, as You Are Beautiful (Juno, Semele)
12. No. 12, Conjure Him by His Oath (Juno)
13. No. 13, Thus Let My Thanks Be Paid (Semele)
14. No. 14, Rich Odours Fill the Fragrant Air (Juno, Semele)
15. No. 15, Come to My Arms, My Lovely Fair (Jupiter)
16. No. 16, O Semele! Why Art Thou Thus Insensible? (Jupiter)
17. No. 17, By That Tremendous Flood (Jupiter)
18. No. 18, You’ll Grant What I Require? (Semele, Jupiter)
19. No. 19, Then Cast off This Human Shape (Semele)
20. No. 20, Ah! Take Heed What You Press! (Jupiter)
21. No. 21, No, No, I’ll Take No Less (Semele)
22. No. 22, Ah, Whither Is She Gone! (Jupiter)
23. No. 23, Above Measure Is the Pleasure (Juno)
24. No. 24, Ah Me! Too Late I Now Repent (Semele)
25. No. 25, Of My Illiboding Dream (Ino)
26. No. 26, Oh Terror and Astonishment! (Chorus of Priests)
27. No. 27, How I Was Hence Remov’d (Ino, Cadmus, Athamas)
28. No. 28, See From Above (Cadmus)
29. No. 29, Apollo Comes (Apollo)
30. No. 30, Happy, Happy Shall We Be (Chorus of Priests)
Semele is a masterpiece. For what else can one call a drama in which the perfect symbiosis of text and music conjures up such suggestive power? “To hold the mind, the ears and the eyes equally spellbound”: this recommendation by La Bruyère (Les Caractères: Les ouvrages de l’esprit) refers to the “machine plays” so adored by the public in the Baroque period. But even without machinery or indeed without sets or real staging, Handel’s oratorio involves us in the tragic fate of his heroine with supreme skill.