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Handel: Samson

Thomas Cooley (Samson) & Sophie Daneman (Dalila)

NDR Choir & Festival Orchestra Göttingen, Nicolas McGegan

Handel: Samson
…Thomas Cooley makes a tragic Samson, from his first soliloquy on his mental anguish, through a heart-rending 'Total eclipse' to his humility and returning strength in Act III. Sophie Daneman...

BBC Music Magazine, July 20095 out of 5 stars

More reviews

Handel: Samson

Thomas Cooley (Samson) & Sophie Daneman (Dalila)

NDR Choir & Festival Orchestra Göttingen, Nicolas McGegan

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…Thomas Cooley makes a tragic Samson, from his first soliloquy on his mental anguish, through a heart-rending 'Total eclipse' to his humility and returning strength in Act III. Sophie Daneman...

BBC Music Magazine, July 20095 out of 5 stars

More reviews

About

Thomas Cooley (Samson) and Sophie Daneman (Dalila) lead a first class cast in this new recording of Handel’s sacred oratorio. Nicolas McGegan is the conductor on this recording that continues Carus’s exploration of the oratorio and operatic works of George Frederic Handel.

Contents and tracklist

Handel: Samson, HWV 57 / Act 1
Work length59:55
Symphony
Track length4:30
Menuet
Track length2:02
Recitative: "This day, a solemn feast"
Track length0:34
Chorus: "Awake the trumpet's lofty sound!"
Track length1:56
Air: "Ye men of Gaza"
Track length4:06
Chorus: "Awake the trumpet's lofty sound!"
Track length0:27
Air: "Loud as the thunder's awful voice"
Track length3:27
Recitative: "Why by an angel"
Track length0:34
Air: "Torments, alas!"
Track length4:42
Recitative: "Oh change beyond report"
Track length0:51
Air: "Oh mirror of our fickle state!"
Track length3:13
Recitative: "Whom have I to complain of but myself"
Track length1:20
Air: "Total eclipse!"
Track length3:58
Chorus: "Oh first created beam!"
Track length3:24
Recitative: "Ye see, my friends"
Track length0:55
Recitative: "Brethren ond men of Dan"
Track length0:34
Recitative: "Oh miserable change!"
Track length0:49
Recitative: "Oh ever failing trust"
Track length0:14
Air: "God of our fathers"
Track length3:03
Recitative: "The good we wish for"
Track length1:07
Air: "Thy glorious deeds inspir'd my tongue"
Track length4:34
Recitative: "Justly these evils have befall'n thy son"
Track length0:13
Accomp: "My griefs for this"
Track length0:55
Air: "Why does the God of Israel sleep?"
Track length4:46
Recitative: "There lies our hope!"
Track length0:21
Chorus: "Then shall they know"
Track length2:49
Recitative: "For thee, my dearest son"
Track length1:58
Chorus: "Then round about the starry throne"
Track length2:33
Handel: Samson, HWV 57 / Act 2
Work length25:00
Recitative: "Trust yet in God!"
Track length0:58
Air: "Return, oh God of hosts!"
Track length8:40
Recitative: "But who is this?"
Track length2:27
Air: "With plaintive notes"
Track length3:51
Recitative: "Did Love constrain thee?"
Track length0:29
Air: "Your charms to ruin led the way"
Track length2:35
Recitative: "Forgive what's done"
Track length0:38
Duet: "My faith and truth"
Track length5:22
Handel: Air (Dalila) and Chorus: To fleeting pleasures make your court
Work length4:56
Handel: Samson, HWV 57 / Act 2
Work length24:46
Recitative: "Ne'er think of that!"
Track length1:20
Duet: "Traitor to love!" - Recitative: "She's gone!"
Track length1:54
Air: "It is not virtue"
Track length2:43
Recitative: "Favour'd of heaven is he"
Track length0:23
Chorus: "To man God's universal law"
Track length2:28
Recitative: "No words of peace"
Track length1:43
Air: "Honour arms scorn such a foe"
Track length5:13
Recitative: "Cam'st thou for this"
Track length0:29
Duet: "Go, baffled coward, go"
Track length2:17
Recitative: "Here lies the proof"
Track length0:49
Chorus: "Hear, Jacob's God"
Track length3:18
Recitative: "Dagon, arise!"
Track length0:13
Chorus: "To song and dance we give the day"
Track length1:56
Handel: Soli (Dalila, Samson, Harapha and Manoa), Chorus: Fix’d in his everlasting seat
Work length2:49
Handel: Samson, HWV 57 / Act 3
Work length49:05
Recitative: "More trouble is behind"
Track length1:22
Air: "Presuming slave, to move their wrath!"
Track length1:54
Recitative: "Reflect then, Samson"
Track length0:46
Chorus: "With thunder arm'd, great God, arise!"
Track length2:45
Recitative: "Be of good courage"
Track length1:58
Air: "Thus when the sun from's wat'ry bed"
Track length4:33
Air: "With might endued above the sons of men"
Track length0:28
Air: "The Holy One of Israel" - Chorus: "To fame im- mortal go"
Track length2:16
Recitative: "Old Manoa"
Track length0:34
Air and Chorus: "Great Dagon has subdued our foe"
Track length3:38
Recitative: "What noise of joy was that?"
Track length0:52
Air: "How willing my paternal love"
Track length3:46
Recitative: "Your hopes of his deliv'ry"
Track length1:52
Recitative: "Noise call you this?"
Track length0:38
Recitative: "Where shall I run"
Track length2:36
Air: "Ye sons of Irael, now lament" - Chorus: "Weep, Israel, weep"
Track length3:42
Dead March
Track length2:42
Recitative: "The body comes"
Track length0:57
Solo and Chorus: "Glorious hero" - Accompagnato: "The virgins too shall" - Chorus: "Bring the laurels" - Solo: "May ev'ry hero"
Track length5:05
Recitative: "Come, come! No time for lamentation now"
Track length0:32
Air: "Let the bright Seraphim"
Track length6:09

Awards and reviews

July 2009

…Thomas Cooley makes a tragic Samson, from his first soliloquy on his mental anguish, through a heart-rending 'Total eclipse' to his humility and returning strength in Act III. Sophie Daneman is a convincing Dalila, though every sustained note acquires a rather prominent vibrato. Doubling as 'An Israelite woman' in Act III, her first passage-work in 'Let the bright Seraphim' is thrilling. Nicholas McGegan's chorus numbers almost 50, large by today's fashion, but transparent and characterful in its roles as Israelites and Philistines...The SACD recording retains crystal clarity in the dangerously reverberant acoustic of Dresden’s Frauenkirche.
5 out of 5 stars

August 2009

…Nicholas McGegan's pacing and conducting of the arias and choruses… is exemplary. The Göttingen Handel Festival Orchestra play with plenty of expertise and personality… Thomas Cooley is the finest Samson on disc since Anthony Rolfe Johnson… sensitively singing his farewell aria "Thus when the sun", but also bringing plenty of colour and animation to athletic music.
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