Handel: Solomon Chœur de Chambre de Namur, Millenium Orchestra & Leonardo García Alarcón

• George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759): Solomon, HWV 67, Act I:
• 1 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Ouverture 03:38
• 2 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Your Harps and Cymbals Sound 03:08
• 3 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Praise Ye the Lord 04:24
• 4 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: With Pious Heart 04:17
• 5 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Almighty Pow'r 02:45
• 6 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Imperial Solomon 00:10
• 7 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: See, From the Op'ning Skies 00:38
• 8 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Sacred Raptures 04:19
• 9 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Throughout the Land 02:51
• 10 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Bless'd Be the Lord 00:24
• 11 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: What Though I Trace 06:07
• 12 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: And See, My Queen 00:47
• 13 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Bless'd the Day 05:29
• 14 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Thou Fair Inhabitant 00:53
• 15 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Welcome as the Dawn of Day 03:54
• 16 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Vain Are the Transient Beauties 00:44
• 17 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Indulge Thy Faith and Wedded Truth 03:36
• 18 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: My Blooming Fair 00:12
• 19 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Haste To the Cedar Grove 03:03
• 20 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: When Thou Art Absent From My Sight 00:23
• 21 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: With Thee Th' Unsheltere'd Moor I'd Tread 01:39
• 22 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: Search Round the World 00:18
• 23 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act I: May No Rash Intruder Disturb Their Soft Hours 03:25
• Solomon, HWV 67, Act II:
• 24 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: From the Censer 04:38
• 25 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Prais'd Be the Lord 01:08
• 26 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: When the Sun O're Yonder Hills 04:41
• 27 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Great Prince, Thy Resolution's Just 00:23
• 28 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Thrice Bless'd That Wise Discerning King 03:13
• 29 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: My Sovereign Liege 00:51
• 30 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Thou Son of David 01:12
• 31 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Words Are Weak 05:14
• 32 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: What Says the Other 01:20
• 33 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Thy Sentence, Great King 02:02
• 34 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Withhold the Executing Hand! 00:14
• 35 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Can I See My Infant Gor'd 04:18
• 36 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Israel, Attend To What Your King Shall Say 01:47
• 37 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Thrice Bless'd Be the King 03:17
• 38 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: From the East Unto the West 02:07
• 39 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: From Mom To Eve 00:30
• 40 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: See the Tall Palm 05:14
• 41 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: No More Shall Armed Bands 00:22
• 42 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Beneath the Vine 03:46
• 43 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act II: Swell the Full Chorus 01:13
• Solomon, HWV 67, Act III:
• 44 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Symfony 02:54
• 45 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: From Arabia's Spicy Shores 01:29
• 46 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Ev'ry Sight These Eyes Behold 04:29
• 47 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Sweep, Sweep the String 00:19
• 48 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Music, Spread Thy Voice Around 03:32
• 49 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Now A Diff'rent Measure Try 01:41
• 50 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Then At Once From Rage Remove 00:41
• 51 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Draw the Tear From Hopeless Love 02:43
• 52 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Next the Tortur'd Soul Release 00:15
• 53 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Thus Rolling Surges Rise 02:58
• 54 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Thy Harmony's Divine 01:08
• 55 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Pious King and Virtuous Queen 02:32
• 56 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Thrice Happy King 00:55
• 57 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Golden Columns 02:54
• 58 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Praise the Lord 03:38
• 59 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Gold Now is Common 00:30
• 60 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: How Green Our Fertile Pastures Look 01:59
• 61 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: May Peace in Salem Ever Dwell! 00:45
• 62 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Will the Sun Forget To Streak 05:37
• 63 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Adieu, Fair Queen 00:19
• 64 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: Ev'ry Joy That Wisdom Knows 02:45
• 65 Handel: Solomon, HWV 67, Act III: The Name of the Wicked 02:58
• Total Runtime 02:31:35

Info for Handel: Solomon

Handel’s oratorio Solomon is now regarded by its performers and its listeners as one of his greatest compositions. This was not, however, always the case. Solomon was not performed outside of London during Handel’s lifetime, an unusual occurrence during his British career. The work had therefore enjoyed only a limited success, although we may well wonder why, when oratorios sung in English had been so successful until then. Could it have been the obvious lack of theatricality in the libretto, or the public’s growing indifference to the genre? Or was he afraid to alienate the Anglican church, given the rumours of lines with erotic connotations in the first and third acts? Here, Leonardo García Alarcón and his singers and instrumentalists offer us a flamboyant version of the work that would certainly have won over the most hesitant of London listeners in 1749!

Christopher Lowrey, countertenor
Ana Maria Labin, soprano
Matthew Newlin, tenor
Gwendolyne Blondeel, soprano
Mari Eriksmoen, soprano
Andreas Wolf, bass
Choeur de Chambre de Namur
Millenium Orchestra
Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, musical direction

Chœur de Chambre de Namur
Since its creation in 1987, the Chamber Choir of Namur has promoted the musical heritage of its region of origin through concerts and recordings of works by Lassus, Rogier, Hayne, Du Mont, Fiocco, Gossec, Grétry, while also taking on great works from the choral repertoire.

Invited to perform at the most renowned festivals in Europe, The Chamber Choir of Namur regularly sings under the direction of prestigious choral directors such as Ottavio Dantone, Peter Phillips, Christophe Rousset, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Jérémie Rohrer & Richard Egarr.

The Choir has made a number of critically acclaimed recordings (nominations at the Victoires de la Musique Classique, Choc de Classica, Diapason d’Or, Joker de Crescendo, 4F de Télérama, Editor’s Choice of Gramophone, ICMA and the Prix Caecilia of the Belgian Press). It was awarded the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros in 2003, the Prix de l’Académie Française in 2006, the Octave de la Musique in 2007 and in 2012 the Chamber Choir of Namur won in the categories of ‘Classical Music’ and ‘Show of the Year.’

In 2010, the artistic direction of the Chamber Choir of Namur was entrusted to the young Argentinian choral director, Leonardo García Alarcón. In 2016, the Chamber Choir of Namur took part in its first stage production at the Paris Opera (Cavalli’s Eliogabalo), and in 2017 was in the cast of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, in Liège, conducted by Guy Van Waas.

The 2017-2018 season was marked by the 30th anniversary of the Choir. Monteverdi’s Orfeo, performed in 2017, was the first celebration of this anniversary throughout Europe and South America. Highlights in 2018 included productions of Lully's Grands Motets, Veneziano's Passio del Venerdi Santo, Jacques Arcadelt's masses and motets and Handel's oratorio Samson, all conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón with various TV and CD recordings.

In 2019 the Namur Chamber Choir added further operas to its repertoire, including Handel’s Saul (Namur and Beaune), Lully’s Isis (Beaune, Paris and Versailles), and Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes at the Paris Opera. It has also created a new work by the Belgian composer Michel Fourgon.

The repertoire of the choir is very broad, ranging from the Middle Ages to contemporary music.

Leonardo García Alarcón
After studying piano in Argentina, Leonardo García Alarcón moved to Europe in 1997 and entered the Geneva Conservatory in the class of harpsichordist Christiane Jaccottet. It was under the aegis of Gabriel Garrido that he embarked on the Baroque adventure. He created his ensemble Cappella Mediterranea, a responsibility that he combined shortly afterwards with that of the Millenium Orchestra, which he founded to accompany the Namur Chamber Choir, of which he became artistic director in 2010. He divides his time between Geneva, where he teaches the class of Maestro al cembalo at the Haute Ecole de Musique, France, notably as a regular pillar of the Ambronay Festival and artist in residence at the Dijon Opera, Belgium, but also sporadic returns to his native South America. We owe him the rediscovery of Cavalli's operas: Elena and Erismena at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2013 and 2017, Eliogabalo, to open the 2016 Paris Opera season, Il Giasone in Geneva, Antonio Draghi's El Prometeo in 2018 at the Dijon Opera, and again in Dijon La Finta Pazza by Francesco Sacrati, the very first opera imported from Italy to Paris. As a conductor or harpsichordist, he is invited to festivals and concert halls all over the world. In 2018, he conducts Monteverdi's Orfeo in the staging of Sacha Walz at the Berlin Staatsoper. In 2019, he triumphed with Rameau's Les Indes Galantes at the Opéra Bastille on the occasion of the 350thanniversary of the Royal Academy of Music.

He was recognized as the best conductor in Forum Opéra's 2019 Palmarès. He is in residence at Radio France during the 2019-2020 season. In 2020, he conducted, among others, Alcina at the head of his ensemble Cappella Mediterranea in Nancy. But many of the projects initially planned for 2020 have been turned upside down. Leonardo García Alarcón adapts his concert programmes and takes an active part in virtual festivals before returning to public concerts whenever possible. In December 2020, the Rossi’s opera Il Palazzo Incantato is maintained at the Opéra de Dijon, despite of the absence of the public, and its video recording, that was broadcast online, was a great success.

His discography is unanimously acclaimed by critics. In 2016, Leonardo García Alarcón recorded for Alpha Classic I 7 Peccati Capitali: an imaginary programme of Monteverdi arias, hailed by the press. In 2018, Joan Manuel Serrat's recording De vez en cuando la vida and a box set dedicated to Jacques Arcadelt were released, winning numerous awards. Critics hailed the release of El Prometeo in which he composed the 3rd act, the original score having disappeared. In March 2021 was released on Sony classical Rebirth, the collaboration of Leonardo García Alarcón and the soprano Sonya Yoncheva. 3 other albums will be published this year: Lamenti & Sospiri, a collection of madrigals by Sigismondo d’India with the sopranos Mariana Flores and Julie Roset, on Ricercar, then for Alpha classics Monteverdi’s Orfeo, and finally Le violon selon Bach with the violinist Chouchane Siranossian.

Booklet for Handel: Solomon