Thank you ladies (and orchestra). Ladies, you use your faces to give a faithful expression to the words you are singing. I have rarely seen this in technically excellent performances. It is wonderful--too wonderful for words.
This 'stitching together' of "And He shall feed his flock" with Matthew 11 is exquisite, and the centrepiece of the libretto; truly inspired, only someone who knew the experience of being fed and having their burden lifted, by Jesus could have written this...
Isaiah 40:11- He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Matt. 11:28-29- Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I AM meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Handel clearly loved female voices, and he wrote some very sensual music for them, particularly sopranos. This is a really good example. I love the whole performance; but it's great having this duet as an extra go-to video (plus various other excerpts)
Love me some Katie and Elle. What lovely voices!! And Barnaby is so multi-talented. AAM definitely has it together. Great performance of a great work. Bravo!!
He shall feed his flock like A shepherd And He shall gather The lambs with his arm With his arm He shall feed his flock like A shepherd And He shall gather The lambs with his arm With his arm And carry them in his bosom And gently lead those That are with young And gently lead those And gently lead those That are with young Come unto Him All ye that labour Come unto Him, ye That are heavy laden And He will give you rest Come unto Him All ye that labour Come unto Him, ye That are heavy laden And He will give you rest Take his yoke upon you And learn of Him For He is meek And lowly of heart And ye shall find rest And ye shall find rest Unto your souls Take his yoke upon you And learn of Him For He is meek And lowly of heart And ye shall find rest And ye shall find rest Unto your souls
This is an amazing construction by Handel. Notice how in the midst of all the peace and invitation there is maintained an undercurrent of tension from the tempo. All the while you want it to go faster, but it never does because it can't. That would destroy the peaceful message and tone of the piece. I wonder if Handel meant for this to happen, given that he wrote and adapted earlier compositions so quickly into this masterpiece.
Hi, Mr. Lester, I think? (feel) it's prima facie, he (Handel) wouldn't have "got it right" at all, if it weren't part of the "authorial intent". (That blows me away; most of my life, I've figured the baroque genius (geniuses) were so part of their "monarchized" cultures that - they didn't have - the (over) individualized (romantic) - degraded to selfish schmaltz - that we've devolved into; but, the other Handel piece that "knocked at my door" (when I was 20) is "Sampson & Delilah" (Draw the Tear from Hopeless love) - "ohhh yeah" - but, now that I'm old - and the internal "fire-works-display" that our emotions - manufacture - for all of us (for important reasons - beyond our capacity to grasp at the time) - when that goes away - with age and discretion - the purpose of the "ostinato" (which there's a whole lotta that in Baroque music - right? - well, it's just the "deeper Reason" - which emerges - when the shallow stuff (the "fireworks display" etc.) that drives our best efforts at the mean or the mid-range of the bell curve of our lives (demographically speaking) - we don't get the drum, we don't get the bass lines - until we can't really hear the jingle jangle (Mr. Tambourine Man) plays for us - in the largest (and emptiest parts of our existences) - which most of us never even get past. What do I know. Anyway, I'm saying, I'm pretty sure GF Handel knew exactly what he was pulling off? (But that never occurred to me until listening to it today many, many years later). Cheers. It's a good question...I like music, but I'm just a listener. How'd he do it? - It more "happened" - in him. dave
See? I always knew the VOCES8 singers could do a great job with baroque sacred arias! Now, Barney and co., let's hear you do more Bach! And I don't mean with an added choir -- just the eight of you will be very satisfactory!
Why are the lady Singers ( soloists mostly, seen as centre of attention and attraction too!) dressing like that singing such songs that espouse modesty...." and learn from me'.... does not go together...
I don’t think I’ve read such a silly comment in all my life. What exactly is lacking in modesty about the way they’re dressed? Take you and your outdated views back a few centuries and I think you’ll fit in fairly well there
It’s also probably appropriate to remind you that Handel himself was known to have been quite fond of attending Bath houses in 18th century London. So if the way these women dress bothers you, you’ll have a hard time digesting the fact that this divine music was written by a supposedly bisexual man
Excessive and unnecessary appoggiaturas by Katie totally wrecks he simplicity of the duet. Who's damn fool idea was it to add these? Eleonore is flawless as ever. They should have stayed in position at the front until the end of the play-out of the aria.
If you don't like it it's better to not say anything at all. I think her singing is special. If you don't havae something nice to say don't say anything at all.
