Ludus Baroque, a festival chorus and orchestra made up of young performers who are specialists in Baroque, convene in Edinburgh twice a year to perform a major choral work by Handel or Bach. Under the leadership of Richard Neville-Towle, who founded the festival, the chorus and orchestra deliver a spirited performance of Handel's Alexander's Feast, its first commercial recording. It's an appealing score, full of delightful surprises and colorful invention, and was one of the composer's most popular works during his lifetime ...
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Ludus Baroque, a festival chorus and orchestra made up of young performers who are specialists in Baroque, convene in Edinburgh twice a year to perform a major choral work by Handel or Bach. Under the leadership of Richard Neville-Towle, who founded the festival, the chorus and orchestra deliver a spirited performance of Handel's Alexander's Feast, its first commercial recording. It's an appealing score, full of delightful surprises and colorful invention, and was one of the composer's most popular works during his lifetime. Ludus Baroque is a relatively small ensemble, with a chorus of 18 members (and an orchestra of 21), so they have more flexibility than a large chorus, and they sing with precision and discipline. When required to, they can produce a very large sound, as in "The many rend the skies with loud applause," which does in fact threaten to rend the skies in its volume. The orchestra, using period instruments, plays with fleet lightness and agility. Tenor Ed Lyon gets off to an unpromising...
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