Phaedra
Phaedra
This concert takes us into some dark and tormented places. In Britten’s cantata of the same name, Phaedra confesses her love for her husband’s son. Guilt-ridden and tortured, she can see no way around her dilemma. The lacerating strings and ominous percussive sounds of the orchestra reveal her riven soul as forcefully as her words. No less intense is a cantata by a young Handel – Lucrezia, written in the first discovery of his powers. Lucrezia calls upon the gods to deliver her from her distress. She has been defiled, but there is no acknowledgement, and no redemption. Gorecki’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings is a raw and demanding piece, obsessively reiterating its driving motif but going nowhere. It is ugly and fanatical but totally fascinating.Trio sonatas for two violins by Handel and Vivaldi provide a stark contrast and relief to these deeply profound works.
With Hester Hannah (soprano), Sarah Penicka-Smith (conductor), Diana Weston (director, harpsichord), Shaun Ng, Julia Russoniello (violins), Tara Hashambuoy (viola), Lucy Cormack, Catherine Upex, Angus Ryan (cellos), Steve Machamer (percussion)
Friday Aug 22 2014, 8 pm Recital Hall East, Conservatorium of Music, Macquarie St.
Reviews
Antonio Vivaldi (1675 – 1741) Sonata in G major for 2 violins and basso continuo
G. F. Haendel (1685-1749) Lucrezia ( O Numi eterni!)
Georg Friedrich Handel Sonata in G, Op. 5 No. 4
Henryk Milolaj Górecki (b. 1933- 2010) Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra
Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976) Phaedra: Dramatic cantata for mezzo-soprano and small orchestra, Op. 93
Words form Robert Lowell’s translation of Racine’s ‘Phèdre
No stranger to Greek mythology, it is to Roman lore, though that Handel turns for the subject of his extended cantata. Lucrezia is possibly a real woman figuring in Roman history (around 510 BC). In Handel’s version of the Lucrezia legend, she early on refers to ‘the evil Tarquin’ as the ‘monster’ responsible for her dishonour. He is the son of the reigning despotic and hated monarch of Rome, a returning soldier rewarded with laurels, and no doubt used to getting what he wanted. The story goes that he enters her room at night, bypassing the guards, and either forces or dupes her into submitting to his sexual demands. When she realises what has happened, she demands vengeance from her father, himself a person of some significance in Rome. It is while he is cogitating over how to proceed, weighing the pros and cons as it were, that she decides to take matters into her own hands – to end her life. (In Handel’s version, vengeance is sought from the gods and when they fail to act, she blames herself). In the legend, this act brought about a revolution and the formation of the Roman Republic.
Interestingly, in both of these vocal works, the woman perceives her sexual misdemeanour as being of paramount significance, unforgiveable in fact, even when not under her control. So much so, that the only recourse appears to be self-destruction.
‘Lucrezia’ is extraordinary in that it was written when Handel was only 21 or so, and brimming with compositional ideas. So prolific was he that he wrote over 100 cantatas during this period, many rarely heard now. Handel’s solo female roles are unrestrained and intense to a degree rarely seen in those for men, at least as far as his cantatas go. His score for ‘Lucrezia’ is fractured, disjointed and interrupted, and ranges in emotional scope between biting vengeance and utter despair. (Britten 250 years later, adopts a similar method of portraying Phaedra).
