Handel & Purcell: It Love’s a Sweet Passion
Die Freitagsakademie performed with Arianna Savall and Petter Udland Johansen in a recital of works by Purcell and Handel. These types of albums—pulling together disparate vocal music together for a concert—serves audiences who I find may not have the time to dig into a composer’s major works while at the same time forcing us to consider how these musics fit together (sometimes well, sometimes less so). In this case, the Friday Academy is focusing upon two composers who never met but both capture what was popular in England across bookends of the Baroque. (N.B. All of the Handel pieces here don’t come from his period after moving to England, hence some are in Italian.)
Katharina Suske, the director, an oboe player, plays a role across many of the pieces. The album is captured in an atmospheric-sounding location; I would have guessed there might be a large dome over them but the pictures betray this idea in the program book, but the cocooned space they recorded in may speak to the effect I get on my loudspeakers at home: close reflections enhanced by reflections further away behind and in front? It’s a beautifully rendered album in terms of its sonic qualities. I won’t say this is always a feature by this ensemble, but some of their past recordings have too offered great sound.
Readers may already know that I don’t care for heavy vibrato. Both Johansen and Savall aren’t presenting here as “operatic” singers and it goes so far for me to be able to endorse the vocal contributions here. I don’t think the term I’m using is historically appropriate, but in current contemporary practice, when I say “operatic,” I’m talking about singers who are projecting to the back of the hall and who vibrate with abandon. As an example of why this works, hear Savall in “Ah! Spietato!” in track 7 from HWV 11, in the way her voice pairs with the oboe solo. They are equals. Savall has a lovely way of shaping her voice and offering changes in color without continuous vibrato.
One of the most rewarding works by Handel for me is his Guilio Cesare in Egitto HWV 17. This opera was featured in an earlier album directed by Giovanni Antonini, Serpent & Fire featuring Anna Prohaska. Both albums share the 11th track. I was confused why the violin here seems to outshine Savall in volume and projection, and the almost scared-sounding Cleopatra’s voice for me here isn’t ultimately satisfying. This one doesn’t work for me so well; the faster tempo used by Antonini and the command of Prohaska may illustrate the difference again between voices used in operatic situations versus ones more appropriate for the chamber.
Adjacent to this track is *Where’er you walk” from Semele, HWV 58, another Handel “crowd pleaser.” Again, I would have liked to hear Johansen a bit closer to me, returning to the sonic bliss that opens the album. And like the last track, I think it may have benefitted from a faster tempo.
Nearly twelve and a half minutes are dedicated to selections from Acis and Galatea, HWV 49. These include two arias, As when the dove laments her love and Heart, the seat of soft delight for Savall.
The first aria provides a challenge for any singer, to perform in tandem with an instrument double. In Savall’s upper register, especially as she pivots to the higher notes, does not always sound in ideal tune to my ears. I am not a vocal expert, but I wonder if some what is performed is not in her ideal range? The effect is not strain, but for me, it’s a bit of discomfort that I hear.
The second aria’s doubler is a recorder and the affinity between this instrument and Savall’s voice is more successful. Savall for me comes across as more confident in this one. The overall affect for this piece is comforting, given the pastoral orchestration and the chosen tempo.
Track 8 features the duet As steals the morn upon the night from HWV 55, L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato. Here’s an example where the two singer’s strengths come together to support one another. For whatever reason (positioning?), the balance between singers and instruments works in the favor of the vocalists here.
They were smart to include the famous lament from Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626. I appreciate here too that it is preceded by the music that comes before the aria. Musically, including arioso or recitative gives context to the music. There is, I think, a bit of a balance issue again between voice and instruments but there is something ultimately rewarding in Savall’s more subdued artistic style. Some performances of this work are, as we might expect, dramatic, sometimes to a fault, given the context of the action. That said, how commanding and dramatic is someone as they are dying? In this case, I think what I found to be something working against the music with Julius Cesar is here working with Purcell’s music in an supportive way.
Thankfully, the ensemble doesn’t end the concert on that sour reality, but offers a rollicking duet in How Happy the Lover from King Arthur, Z. 628.
Conclusions
This recording, envisioned as a concert program, I feel works in favor of the audience. Combining pieces from both Purcell and Handel provides the listener enough variety that enhances our experience. You likely won’t confuse who the composer is for any given piece, but the common approach between the two composers’ works is well done to provide continuity across the program.
As I mentioned in the opening, parts of this album really present well sonically. In a few cases I felt the balance between instruments and voice was more challenging; this may well reflect the reality of a single singer amongst a chamber band.
For me, all the performances weren’t maybe ideal. I’m a big fan of Savall’s vocal sound but some of the pieces I think could have benefitted from a step up in tempo. And in some cases Savall sounded less confident, especially when switching to her higher register. In a few cases there were intonation issues, which I can’t say lie with the singer, these are hard to diagnose especially so when a voice is doubled by instruments.
If I had heard this program live, I think I would have left satisfied — the familiar repertoire anchored, the ensemble's sound warm, Savall's particular gifts evident in the pieces that suited her. The recording, though, invites a closer scrutiny than the concert hall would have permitted. In a live acoustic, balance irregularities dissolve with distance; in a listening room, they don't. The microphone is unforgiving about what a voice is and isn't doing in relation to the instruments around it.
What it reveals here is both a strength and a limitation. Savall is at her best in the music that asks for intimacy — the Dido lament, the Heart, the seat of soft delight with its recorder double, the duet from L'Allegro. The pieces that pushed toward operatic projection or broader affect were the ones where tempo and balance conspired against her. That's not a fatal critique of the album; it's a description of what kind of record this is. If you approach it as chamber music — close listening, small forces, singer as one voice among equals — you'll find quite a lot to admire.
