CD 1
Act One
1-01 No.1 Overture 6:55
Scene 1
1-02 No.2 Chorus Of Priests Your Harps And Cymbals Sound 3:40
1-03 No.3 Air. Levite Praise Ye The Lord For All His Mercies Past 4:58
1-04 No.4 Chorus Of Priests With Pious Heart, And Holy Tongue 4:44
1-05 No.5 Accompagnato. Solomon Almighty Pow'r 3:15
1-06 No.6 Recitative. Zadok Imperial Solomon 0:32
1-07 No.7 Air. Zadok Sacred Raptures Cheer My Breast 4:33
1-08 No.8 Chorus Of Israelites Throughout The Land Jehovah's Praise Record 3:51
1-09 No.9 Recitative. Solomon Bless'd Be The Lord 0:26
1-10 No.10 Air. Solomon What Though I Trace Each Herb And Flow'r 5:59
Scene 2
1-11 No.11 Recitative. Solomon And See My Queen, My Wedded Love 0:41
1-12 No.12 Air. Queen Bless'd The Day When First My Eyes 5:52
1-13 No.13 Recitative. Solomon, Queen Thou Fair Inhabitant Of Nile 0:43
1-14 No.14 Duet. Queen, SolomonWelcome As The Dawn Of The Day 3:28
1-15 No.17 Recitative. Solomon My Blooming Fair 0:09
1-16 No.18 Air. Solomon Haste, Haste To Cedar Grove 2:45
1-17 No.19 Recitative. Queen When Thou Art Absent From My Sight 0:15
1-18 No.20 Air. Queen With Thee Th'Unshelter'd Morr I'd Tread 2:25
1-19 No.21 Recitative. Zadok Search Round The World 0:11
1-20 No.22 Chorus May No Rash Intruder Disturb Their Soft Hours 4:25
Act Two
Scene 1
1-21 No.23 Chorus Of Israelites From The Censer Curling Rise 5:20
1-22 No.24 Recitative. Solomon Prais'd Be The Lord 0:54
1-23 No.25 Air. Solomon When The Sun O'er Yonder Hills 4:05
1-24 No.26 Recitative. Levite Great Prince, Thy Resolution's Just 0:19
1-25 No.27 Air. Levite Thrice Bless'd That Wise Discerning King 3:24
Scene 2
1-26.1 No.28 Recitative. Attendant, Solomon My Sovereign Liege 0:40
Scene 3 5:17
1-26.2 First Harlot Thou Son Of David, Hear A Mother's Grief 1:11
1-27 No.29 Trio. Solomon, Two Harlots Words Are Weak To Paint My Fears 5:17
CD 2
2-01 No.30 Recitative. Solomon, 2n Harlot What Says The Other To Th'Imputed Charge? 1:11
2-02 No.31 Air. Second Harlot Thy Sentence, Great King 1:56
2-03 No.32 Recitative. First Harlot Whithhold, Whittold The Executing Hand 0:11
2-04 No.33 Air. First Harlot Can I See My Enfant Gor'd 4:33
2-05 No.34 Accompagnato. Solomon Israel, Attend To What Your King Shall Say 1:31
2-06 No.35 Duet. First Harlot, Solomon Thrice Bless'd The King 3:06
2-07 No.36 Chorus Of Israelites From The East Unto The West 2:54
2-08 No.37 Recitative. Zadok From Morn To Eve I Could Enraptur'd Sing 0:17
2-09 No.38 Air. Zadok See The Tall Palm That Lifts The Head 5:46
2-10 No.39 Recitative. First Harlot No More Shall Armed Bands Our Hopes Destroy 0:19
2-11 No.40 Air. First Harlot Beneath The Vine, Or Fig-Tree's Shade 3:27
2-12 No.41 Chorus Of Priests Swell, Swell The Full Chorus To Solomon's Praise 3:10
Act Three
2-13 No.42 Symphony: Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba 2:52
2-14 No.43 Recitative. Queen Of Sheba, Solomon From Arabia Spicy Shores 1:10
2-15 No.44 Air. Queen Of Sheba Ev'ry Sight These Eyes Behold 4:42
2-16 No.45 Recitative. Solomon Sweep, Sweep The String 0:13
2-17 No.46 Solo. Solomon And Israelites Music, Spread Thy Voice Around 2:31
2-18 No.47 Solo. Solomon And Israelites Now A Diff'rent Measure Try 1:53
2-19 No.48 Recitative. Solomon Then At Once From Rage Remove 0:31
2-20 No.49 Chorus Of Israelites Draw The Tear From Hopeless Love 2:51
2-21 No.50 Recitative. Solomon Next The Tortur'd Soul Release 0:15
2-22 No.51 Solo. Solomon And Israelites Thus Rolling Surges Rise 3:42
2-23 No.52 Recitative. Queen Of Sheba Thy Harmony's Divine, Great King 1:01
2-24 No.53 Recitative. Zadok Thrice Happy King, To Have Achiev'd 0:39
2-25 No.54 Air. Zadok Golden Columns, Fair And Bright 3:17
2-26 No.55 Recitative. Solomon Gold Now Is Common On Our Happy Shore 0:25
2-27 No.56 Air. Solomon How Green Our Fertile Pastures Look 2:39
2-28 No.57 Recitative. Queen Of Sheba May Peace In Salem Ever Dwell! 0:40
2-29 No.58 Air. Queen Of Sheba Will The Sun Forget To Streak 6:22
2-30 No.59 Recitative. Solomon Adieu, Fair Queen, And In Thy Breast 0:17
2-31 No.60 Duet. Queen Of Sheba, Solomon Ev'ry Joy That Wisdom Knows 2:52
2-32 No.61 Double Chorus Praise The Lord With Harp And Tongue! 4:21
Conductor Daniel Reuss' splendid new recording of Handel's Solomon expands the extraordinarily broad range of music, including works by Bach, Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Ligeti, Stefan Wolpe, and the Bang on a Can composers, in which he has shown his mastery. His 2006 recording of Martin's Le vin herbé was one of the highlights of the year. Handel scored the oratorio for unusually large choral and orchestral forces, and the sound of this performance, with the RIAS-Kammerchor and Akademie für Alte Musik, Berlin, is warmly humanistic, beautifully paced, and tonally sumptuous, and is sung and played with stylistic assurance and lively dramatic passion. The oratorio is in three acts, with the first focusing on Solomon's marriage, the second on the dispute of the two harlots each claiming the same child, and the third on the visit of the Queen of Sheba. The composer's tone for the most part is one of gentle benevolence, interrupted only by the conflict of the second act, but Handel is infinitely inventive in his ability to express happiness, so there is no lack of musical variety. Those moments are in fact among the work's most memorable, particularly the ravishing love scene in the first act, culminating in the sublime chorus, "May no rash intruder disturb their soft hours," and the First Harlot's paean to Solomon's wisdom, "Beneath the vine or fig-tree's shade." Alto Sarah Connolly is a lyrically serene and vocally sensuous Solomon. Sopranos Susan Gritton as his Queen and First Harlot, and Carolyn Sampson as the Queen of Sheba and Second Harlot sing with pure, soaring tone, beautiful coloratura, and vivid dramatic characterization. As Zadok, tenor Mark Padmore sounds a little thin, in an English-oratorio-singer way, but bass David Wilson-Johnson makes a solid and compelling Levite. Harmonia Mundi's clean sound has a fine balance of brightness and warmth, and an excellent sense of presence. -- Stephen Eddins
