San Francisco Classical Voice

The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra kicked off its season on Saturday with G. F. Handel's sparkling music drama Semele, performed, as it would have been in Handel's time, as an oratorio, with no action or costumes and each singer taking the parts of several different characters. The dramatic story line and vivid characterization of the libretto, however, put this work much closer to Handel's Italian operas than to the grand solemnity of scriptural oratorio. Music director Nicholas McGegan seemed in his element in this piece, taking full advantage of the score's wide variety of moods, colors, and texture.

Unlike many of Handel's true oratorios, Semele is primarily a solo work, and the six singers can make or break a performance of it. In this performance, the stellar cast left almost nothing to be desired. In the title role, Soprano Sophie Daneman represents the happy marriage of excellent vocal production, a wonderfully dramatic reading of the role, and a deep sensibility for Baroque music. Her beautiful, warm vibrato was under complete control and appropriately curtailed for the coloratura fireworks with which the work's music abounds. Countertenor Danile Taylor, as the lovesick Athamas, has a beautiful sound, especially in his upper register.

One of the challenges is that the same singer often must take on two contrasting characters. Baritone David Evitts and mezzo-soprano Wilke te Brummelstroete both succeeded admirably in their dual roles. In the first part of the work Evitts gave great solemnity to Cadmus, King of Thebes, and in part III he added delicious humor to his portrayal of Somnus, the god of sleep. Brummelstroete had perhaps the greatest dramatic challenge of the work in portraying both Ino, the lachrymose, lovelorn sister of Semele, and Juno, the injured queen of the gods whose machinations bring about the heroine's downfall. Brummelstroete rose magnificently to this challenge.

Tenor Mark Padmore gave an excellent rendering of the musically and dramatically taxing role of Jupiter. Soprano Twyla Whittaker, in the two small roles of Iris and Cupid, proved to have a flexible and beautiful voice. One of the advantages of this production was its inclusion of several numbers often cut in performance. Cupid's lovely air "Come zephyrs," the Philharmonia chorus was, as always, one of the high points of the performance. Their tight ensemble and full, mature vocal tone provided a perfect backdrop to the solo singers.

The orchestral playing sparkled with Philharmonia's usual dramatic flair. McGegan took many numbers at easy, relaxed tempi that highlighted the languid, sensuous beauty of this secular drama. The few rough edges that did occur (occasional stumbling over words and apparent disagreement between singers and orchestra about cadenzas and tempi) will presumably be ironed out in later performances.

This show runs nearly four hours, and it's a credit to Handel's genius and the musical and dramatic skill of these performers that it held the attention of the audience throughout.

(John Prescott, a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at UC Berkeley, is a writer and lecturer on early music.)

©2000 John Prescott, all rights reserved