Word: allegros
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...Sunday October 26, the Handel and Haydn Society, under the direction of Christopher Hogwood, presented the second of two performances of their season opener, Handel's L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato. This 1740 work combines excerpts from two Milton poems, L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, with original poetry by Handel's librettist Charles Jennens, the Il Moderato, set to what is essentially orchestral accompaniment...
...major, Op. 6 No. 1 respectively. The exceptional soloists gave performances worthy of Hogwood's illustrious direction, perhaps even of Milton himself. Especially notable were sopranos Sharon Baker and Lisa Saffer, whose powerful voices captured both the light, lilting passages of L'Allegro and the "grave music," as Handel termed it, of Il Penseroso. Christine Brandes, also soprano, however, sounded a bit too bright and overharsh at times. Tenor Alan Bennett and bass David Thomas also demonstrated impressive talent and musical sensitivity...
...Allegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato is composed of three parts. The first and second are interspersed excerpts from L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, chosen and arranged, scholars now believe, by a friend and colloborator of Handel's, James Harris. L'Allegro is, as the title suggests, full of bright, youthful phrasing and imagery. Hymen is invoked and the praise of "bustling cities" sung. Il Penseroso, on the other hand, is filled with the language of age, of cloisters, weariness and Heaven. The speaker plans to enter "a peaceful hermitage" where he hopes to sit and reflect...
Also worthy of esteem was the Autumn Adagio Molto, with the rich initial phrasing of the baroque guitar played with bravura by Olav Chris Henriksen. With Gibbon's rhythmic, plucking continuo, the music lulled guests into imaginary dulcet slumber. During the Allegro, the orchestra, which had been struggling a bit at first with dynamics and synchronicity, finally gelled and the harpsichord rocked along, tying the ends together splendidly...
...worry too much about the the bleak mid-winter reading period just around the corner--drank up the Allegro Non Molto from the Summer concerto and imagine yourselves languishing in the July heat on an Italian beach, instead of holed up in a dorm room on the banks of the Charles. Let Vivaldi work his magic...