Dunedin Consort - Handel: Samson - The Observer

No one can accuse the Dunedin Consort of doing things by halves. For their new recording of Handel’s Samson (Linn), they are offering two complete versions of the oratorio, one on disc and one via download. The arias and recitatives remain the same, but the choruses are completely reworked, with a mixed choir on the discs (the soloists joined by the bright voices of the Tiffin Boys’ Choir) and a soloists-only ensemble on the download. I firmly prefer the tonal contrast and youthful freshness of the mixed choir, but it’s a luxury to have both.

Samson (1743) has always been popular among Handel’s great oratorios, maybe partly the story (with its fine text from Milton’s Samson Agonistes) is so well-known. But early on you begin to question whether the music stands up to Handel’s greatest works of the early 1740s, Messiah and L’Allegro, especially when it is recorded here with totally uncut recitatives. However, towards the end of Act 2, with the superb chorus Hear, Jacob’s God, it suddenly deepens, and Act 3 is a masterpiece.

John Butt directs with vigour: Joshua Ellicott could hardly be a more different Samson from the stentorian Jon Vickers of yesteryear, light and eloquent; Sophie Bevan is a sensual Delilah, while Dunedin regulars excel, including Matthew Brook, Fflur Wyn and Mary Bevan (who gets the famous final hit tune, Let the Bright Seraphim).