The first CDs I ever bought were Philip Glass's The Photographer & the John Eliot Gardiner recording of Handel's Solomon, & the Internet tells me that was 38 years ago, but neither before nor after that momentous purchase had I heard the oratorio live, so when Harry Bicket & the English Concert stopped at Cal Performances & Zellerbach Hall last Sunday on their Solomon tour, I made sure to be there.
I should start off by making it clear I enjoyed it immensely, but there may be reasons beyond the large forces called for that make this oratorio a relative rarity. It lacks the sweep & tragic intensity of such works as Jephthah (my favorite), Saul, or Belshazzar; I wouldn't call it static, but it's not exactly action-packed. I knew this going in, thanks to John Eliot Gardiner (though this performance included a couple of arias that were not in his edition), but I think some of those around me did not; I heard some observations, clearly meant as complaints, that "it was long", & at three & a half hours indeed it was, but if you surrendered to the grandeur it was also quite radiant.
Some of Handel's oratorios are virtually operas & can be staged as such, but Solomon is more like a pageant or masque. It opens with praise of God & King Solomon, with many dazzling choruses (superbly sung by The Clarion Choir, led by Steven Fox), ending with Solomon's unnamed (&, contrary to the Bible, singular) Queen praising their nuptial bed. This was one of several passages in the anonymous libretto that led to much chuckling from some of the people behind me – "bosom" was another word that set them off. You'd think they were middle-schoolers, & not particularly mature ones at that, rather than a couple of wrecks clearly teetering on the brink of the grave. I was glad when they left after the second intermission.
The second part contains a dramatic interlude, the famous dispute over a baby by two women (called "harlots"; the program tells us Handel objected to the term but it doesn't tell us why or what form the objection took; the King James translation does describe the women initially as harlots but thereafter refers to them just as women), with "divide the baby" as the judgment designed to reveal the true mother. Handel's deftness as a dramatist certainly comes to the fore here, with the Second Harlot's sharp interruptions of the First Harlot's laments making a particularly striking deviation from the usual circumspect forms of baroque oratorio. The part concludes, after the judgment & Solomon's assurance, in case you were worried, that he never meant to actually kill the infant, with a bit of gently melancholy pastoral ("Beneath the vine, or fig-tree's shade / Every shepherd sings the maid / Who his simple heart betrayed") & further praise of Solomon.
The third & final part begins with what is, or used to be, one of the best-known orchestral interludes in Handel, the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, who has come to see the glorious sights & generally bask in the wisdom & benevolence of the celebrated Solomon. He treats her to a series of tableaux illustrating the variety of music's emotional powers, to rouse us to martial feelings, to inspire & console us for melancholy love, & so forth (similar in spirit to the Handel / Dryden Alexander's Feast). When she departs, Sheba thanks Solomon for the unforgettable wisdom he has imparted, but it's actually not quite clear what actually constitutes this "wisdom"; for all the praise of the King, & of God, you can't help feeling that in this section Handel is slyly pointing out the superior power of the Composer, among whose powerful creations are not only martial spirit & gentle love, but Majesty & Deity.
As is frequently the case with Handel's oratorios (as opposed to his operas), the chorus plays a major part, & as noted above they were superb & tireless & expressive in all ways, from the ethereal benevolence of the "Nightingale" chorus to the rousing, timpani-studded swells of praise for God, King, & Music. Bicket led the sumptuous band at a pace that never felt either delayed or rushed, & the soloists did not let down either chorus, orchestra, or audience, starting with mezzo Ann Hallenberg as a dignified & intelligent Solomon. Mezzo Niamh O'Sullivan made a fierce Second Harlot, as the Queen of Sheba soprano Elena Villalón's voice was as rich & golden as her floor-length one-shouldered sheath, &, in smaller roles, bass-baritone Brandon Cedel as a Levite & tenor James Way as Zadok the Priest were both smooth & forceful. But it was soprano Miah Persson, as Solomon's Queen & as First Harlot, who, in her pastoral interlude (the one mentioned above, where every shepherd sings the maid who his simple heart betrayed), managed, among the pageantry, to reduce me to tears.
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