Grandeur? Check. Glory? Check. Empire? Check.
John Eliot Gardiner's justly celebrated 1985 recording of Handel's oratorio Solomon has as much pomp and circumstance as a royal coronation. Although not without its tendernesses and sensitivities -- the closing of Act I is as voluptuously beautiful in its way as the Love Duet from Tristan -- Handel's just and wise Solomon is always an exemplary sovereign portrayed in brilliantly celebratory and immensely noble music, music clearly meant to flatter a king and persuade him toward greatness. And so it is in
Gardiner's performance. With the mighty
Carolyn Watkinson in the title role, the clarion
Nancy Argenta as Solomon's Queen, the very appealing
Barbara Hendricks as the Queen of Sheba, plus the always vigorous Anthony Rolfe Johnson as Zadok the Priest, the cast was as fine as Great Britain could assemble in the '80s.
Gardiner's
Monteverdi Choir sings with clarity, energy, and expression and his
English Baroque Soloists play with force, color, and warmth. Melded in the furnace of
Gardiner's imagination, the result is a performance of Solomon that entirely captures the work's combination of overt adulation and covert advice. Philips' early digital sound is quite immediate, if perhaps a tad too antiseptic for some tases.