Ferrandini • Handel
Handel: Dixit Dominus; Ferrandini: Il pianto di Maria
Sophie Rennert, Deborah Cachet et al; Vlaams Radiokoor; Il Gardellino Orchestra/Bart Van Reyn
Passacaille PAS1130 56:26 mins
This studio recording, made during a tour, packs more punch than most readings of these two works. Conductor Bart Van Reyn masterfully exploits the contrasts between Dixit Dominus, Handel’s plush psalm setting of 1707 requiring a double five-voice choir, soloists and string band with continuo, against the lean 1739 solo cantata Il pianto di Maria, once wrongly ascribed to Handel as HWV 234 but actually by Giovanni Ferrandini. Through her luminous performance of the cantata, young mezzo-soprano Sophie Rennert takes her place among foremost Baroque music interpreters.
In Dixit Dominus, the 22-year-old Handel, newly arrived in Rome, mixed dazzling counterpoint, super-charged affect and sublime choral movements to wow listeners and attract patrons. Van Reyn seizes on the opportunities Handel provides, his abrupt entries and pulsing tempos creating a quivering tension in fast movements. No ‘Dominus a dextris tuis’ is more serene, as Van Reyn blends the distinctive hues of Rennert and soprano Deborah Cachet with great artistry. The conductor sensibly retreats from Cachet’s solo aria, leaving her to glory in the vocalism of Handel’s line. The Flemish Radio Choir’s performance is bold and intense, though the polyphonic lines in the final movement – where, to show his chops, Handel reset the first movement’s cantus firmus even more densely – do get a bit muddled.
In Il pianto di Maria, Rennert movingly dramatises Mary’s grief at the death of Jesus. Her sustained chest notes are like moans, and her searing leaps like protests, drawing us into the darkest corners of despair; at the whispered end of one recitative she seems to expire along with her son. As Mary’s desperation grows, the playing of Baroque orchestra Il Gardellino becomes increasingly wild, with stabbing chords and tumbling scales brilliantly foregrounded by Van Reyn. Berta Joncus
