Handel: Hercules
Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano) - Dejanira
Gidon Saks (bass) -
Hercules
Lynne Dawson (soprano) - Iole
Richard Croft (tenor) -
Hyllus
David Daniels (countertenor) - Lichas
Choeurs du Louvre
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Marc Minkowski (conductor)
Deutsche Grammophon Archiv
Handel's secular dramatic oratorio Hercules was composed in the
summer of 1744, and is roughly contemporary with Semele and
Belshazzar. Ironically, all three of this magnificent cluster were
failures at the box office. Yet the quality of Hercules was well recognized by more than one connoisseur at the time: the Earl of
Shaftesbury wrote in a letter (recently rediscovered) that "The composition
is as good as possible. Wadyman and Collet &c [members of Handel's
orchestra] tell me he never wrote any-thing beyond it in his entire life. The
musicians are charmed with Hercules."
Like the better-known oratorio Saul, Hercules is a powerful examination of the destruction wrought by needless jealousy. The mythological hero, having long since completed his labors and recently defeated the proud Oechalians, returns home to his wife and son. He also brings with him a captive, the Oechalian princess Iole, which invokes the jealous wrath of his wife Dejanira. It is actually their son Hyllus who loves Iole, but Dejanira refuses to listen to reason — and eventually brings about her husband's death amid tragic and unintentional circumstances. Dejanira discovers the truth too late, and her grief turns into insanity. Such dramatic situations and intense personalities could not fail to inspire Handel to impressive heights, and the scholar Donald Burrows rightly describes Dejanira's mad scene "Where shall I fly?" as "one of the high points in all of Handel's English works."
There is already a remarkably good recording of Hercules (also on DG Archiv but no longer widely available) by John Eliot Gardiner, featuring some fine, if idiosyncratic, performances by John Tomlinson, Jennifer Smith and Sarah Walker. Although Gardiner's version was one of the greatest Handel recordings of the prolific 1980s, the singing was perhaps not to everyone's taste and the performance suffered slightly from a few cuts to the score. Marc Minkowski's new recording features an impressive cast of Handel specialists and purports to be entirely complete — and it is a triumph, an achievement that can hold its head up proudly among the finest Handel recordings yet made.
Minkowski's Hercules appears not long after his controversial Messiah, which was a compelling experiment that, to these ears, went drastically wrong somewhere along the way. There are no such problems here: the performance possesses a vivid sense of theater, yet it does not fall into the unfortunate traps of poorly chosen tempos or misinterpreted communication of the text. Such flaws have marred Minkowski's exuberance and vitality in the past, yet this Hercules is a perfect match of the conductor's strengths and Handel's.
There are a couple of flaws, namely the patchy and unattractive singing of the choir and the prominent use of organ prominently in many of the secco recitatives. (Handel is known to have generally confined the organ to doubling the choir and occasionally supporting the bass line.) Gardiner's 20-year-old recording remains unchallenged in those aspects, and the sheer brilliance and intelligence of his orchestra, The English Baroque Soloists, still compare favorably with the gutsy attack of Les Musiciens du Louvre. If that leaves things more or less even between the old and new versions, Minkowski's trump cards are his soloists. The cast looks tantalizing on paper, and they all turn out to be ideal for their roles. (You know you are in for a treat when David Daniels is cast as a seemingly "minor" character.) Gidon Saks brings brawn to the muscular hero's arias, but his recitatives are especially superb. As his character dies in poisoned agony, the bitterness with which he sings "Was it for this unnumbered toils I bore?" is tangible. Richard Croft is also in fine voice as Hyllus, and a smoldering Lynne Dawson gives yet another superb performance as Iole.
Yet the real star is Anne Sofie von Otter as Dejanira, whose mistaken jealousy brings about Hercules' death. The mezzo proves once again her supreme worth as a Handel singer (her contributions to Trevor Pinnock's Messiah, John Eliot Gardiner's Jephthaand Minkowski's Ariodante have already demonstrated this). Her diction, musical intelligence and command of the libretto's subtleties are overwhelming. In the aria "Resign thy club" von Otter unleashes sarcastic scorn on her innocent husband; her aria "Cease, ruler of the day, to rise" evokes her belief that her husband does not love her with heartbreaking effect; her rendition of Dejamira's descent into insanity in "Where shall I fly?" is quite possibly the greatest performance of a major Handel scene we have heard for years.
Despite a few small faults, this recording is of major importance and an essential purchase for Handelians. If the powers-that-be at DG have any sense at all, they will hire exactly the same cast to tour and record a complete period-instrument Semele. Handel composed Hercules and Semele for similar groups of singers, and it is high time Handel's most charming, wittiest, and wisest "English opera" was given such five-star treatment.
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