Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
From Cantata BWV 30 - Kommt ihr angefochtnen Sünder
From Cantata BWV 33 - Wie fürchtsam wankten meine Schritte (John Harbison, conductor)
George Frideric Handel 1685-1759
Hercules (HWV 60) - Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sings the mezzo-soprano role of Dejanira
Recit. O Hercules! Why art thou absent from me? (Act 1 Scene 1)
Aria The world when day's career is run (Act 1 Scene 1)
Recit. Then I am lost! O dreadful oracle! (Act 1 Scene 2)
Aria There in myrtle shades reclined (Act 1 Scene 2)
Shannon Snapp, continuo cello
Recit. Ye lying omens, hence! (Act 1 Scene 3)
Aria Begone, my fears, fly, hence, away (Act 1 Scene 3)
Recit. It must be so! fame speaks aloud my wrongs (Act 2 Scene 2)
with Jayne West, soprano
Aria When beauty sorrow’s liv’ry wears (Act 2 Scene 2)
Danielle Maddon & Lena Wong, violins
Recit. O glorious pattern of heroic deeds! (Act 2 Scene 5)
Aria Resign thy club and lion's spoils (Act 2 Scene 5)
Aria Cease, ruler of the day, to rise (Act 2 Scene 6)
Aria Joys of freedom, joys of pow’r (Act 2 Scene 8)
With Jayne West, soprano
Mad Scene: Where shall I fly? Where hide this guilty head? (Act 3 Scene 3)
“Compiled as a memorial to the mezzo, this archive collection has become a memorial as well to Craig Smith, the founder of the Boston group Emmanuel Music, from which Lieberson first took wing. The voice isn’t quite at full power in the aria from Bach’s Cantata No 30, but you find the authentic emotional blast in Dejanira’s arias from Handel’s Hercules. The recordings don’t have much bloom – but the voice!” The Times, 27th June 2008 ****
“In this selection of passages from Bach cantatas and arias from Handel's Hercules, recorded at the church, admirers can trace [Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's] growth from low lyric soprano to lush mezzo of perfect technique, intonation and clarity.” The Observer, 15th June 2008
“Typically, [Hunt Lieberson] makes each of these arias a confessional drama of the soul. In the process, she turns what should be a springy gavotte from Bach's cantata No 30 into something closer to a dirge.
But she is magnificent in the arias Handel wrote for the neurotic, self-tormenting Dejanira in Hercules...Her burnished tone always remains beautiful. Another moving memento of a singer who, to quote one of her colleagues, "sang every performance as if it were her last".” The Telegraph, 12th July 2008
“… a solid achievement, distinguished by the mezzo's remarkable artistry.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2008 ****
