Review: Handel's Samson ****
With four city centre events on the same night, the York Musical Society were sadly struggling for an audience to hear their highly estimable performance of Handel's Samson.
Last year Buxton Festival successfully staged the work as an opera, and it does rather awkwardly straddle, both musically and dramatically, the theatre and its place among the great 18th century oratorios.
The excellent tenor, Jason Darnell, only highlighted that problem in his characterisation of the name role, his every word and vocal gesture so coloured to capture the changing moods of the blinded man of God.
Equally impressive was the bass, James Arthur, who used a totally different voice in his dual role as Samson's father and the evil protagonist, Harapha, the latter part showing a singer of impressive weight.
Handel left the soprano with the famous aria, Let the bright Seraphim, to bring the story to a suitable end, Vicky Hart, enjoying the moment, though we needed a much cleaner diction in her role as Dalila, and much the same could be said of Alexander Sherman as Micah.
The score would have benefited from more urgent tempos than were possible in the Minster's cavernous acoustic, but the young conductor, David Pipe, made an impressive debut creating a chorus in top form.
York Musical Society
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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