Disc: 1
1. Son
2. Beauty: Mirror Most Faithful, I Delight To S
3. Pleasure: I, None Other Than Pleasure, Swear Now: You'll Never Lose Your Beauty...
4. Pleasure: Gloomy Spirit And Blackest Sorrow Are Never Lonely...
5. Time: And I, I Who Am Time.. / Truth: Allied With Me, The Hard Truth..
6. If Beauty Loses Her Charm, If She Withers Or Dies, She Will Never Return...
7. Pleasure: Thus We Must Take Up Arms, And We Shall See Who Shall Prove Victorious...
8. Beauty: I Have Deployed A Platoon Of Pleasures To Guard My Thoughts...
9. Time: The Sun And The Moon Recoil Daily At My Power!...
10. O Ye Tombs, Which Hide So Many 'Beauties', Open Up!...
11. Pleasure: Your Proffered Advice Is All Too Cruel. Youth's Truest Jewel Among Its Treasures...
12. Beauty And Pleasure: To Spend The Prime Of One's Life Amidst Cares And Worries...
13. Truth: One Can See In An Instant How Constricted Moral Life Is...
14. Some Evil Thought Made Time Fickle And Vicious, Giving Him Wings And A Scythe...
15. Truth: How Reckless!, Defying Time. Even As We Speak...
16. Time: Man Is Born A Babe; The Year Is Born Wite-Haired. The One Is Always About To Fall...
17. Truth: Man Is Always Destroying Himself, While The Year Is Self-Renewing...
18. Pleasure: This Is My Domain. Imagine Me Taking On Various
19. Form.
20. Pleasure: A Fair Youth Creates Perfect Delight With His Seductive Music...
21. Beauty: It Seems His Hands Have Wings; Miracles They Perform..
22. Let Time Come, With It's Ghastly Wings, And Dare Steal Our Joys On These Pleasant Shores...
23. Truth: Man Thinks That Time Sleeps, As He Spreads His Hidden Wings...
24. Time: You Think Time's Remote, Yet I'm Here With You..
25. Is It Not Folly, Then, To Presume That Time Flies For All But You?...
26. Truth: You've Seen The Tempting Palace Of Pleasure; So Now Come...
27. Beauty: If You Cause Me No Further Pain I Shall Follow You Faithfully...
Disc: 2
1. Time: If You've Seen Quite Enough of Psuedo Pleasures, Enchanted Seeming Scenes...
2. Pleasure: Close, Close Your Lovely Eyes, Turn Your Thoughts Away..
3. Time: Now Observe How We Portion The Days Of Your Life Into Three Parts, Just So...
4. Beauty: I Had Hoped To Find Pleasure In Truth; I Trust It Is Still There..
5. Pleasure: There Is No Point In Grieving: If You Want Me, Just Call For Me, For I Am Present
6. You Swore Never To Forsake Me, Or Sorrow Would Be Your Reward...
7. Time: A Feeble Gaze, When Turned Towards The Sunlight, Cannot Endure The Rays...
8. Beauty: Would That I Had Two Hearts In My Breast; I'd Give One To Repentance...
9. Truth: I Could Have Sworn You Had Shut Your Eyes To The One True Mirror...
10. Looking Down From The Mountaintop One Wisely Disregards The Dark Valley...
11. Time: It's But A Headstrong Blunder To Leave A Trusted Guide Who Leds You Aright...
12. A Fool, The Helmsman Who Refuses To Change Course, Knowing The Winds Are Against Him...
13. Beauty: You Spoke The Truth; Belatedly I Heard It, And Yet, To My Sorrow, In My Anguished Thoughts...
14. I Need Time To Decide..../Time: Time Is Here With You.../Truth: And Truth...
15. Beauty: Near The Palace Where Pleasure Of Old Resides, Is An Elegant Garden...
16. Pleasure: Forgo The Thorn, Pick The Rose! You Go Looking For Sorrow!...
17. Beauty: With Tones All Too Clear, The Truth Bids Me To Follow. O Courteous Truth...
18. I Would Change My Desires, And Say 'I Repent' Rather Than 'I Shall Repent'.
19. Now You Stand There Before Me, Indestructible Mirror...
20. The Old 'Counselor' Of The Blond Beauty Shall Be Cast To The Ground..
21. Beauty: What, Alas, Do I See? I Had Thought I Was Beautiful, But I Am Disfigured...
22. A Ship Laden With Riches, Will Through Even Gold And Jewels Overboard...
23. Yes, Exquisite Repentance, Give, As I Shed Now These Bitter Tears Of Penance..
24. Truth And Time: The Sparkling Tears Of Dawn, Are Golden Pearls On Every Flower...
25. Beauty: Pleasure, Dare Now, My Old Companion, To See The Truth Once More, In This Mirror...
26. Pleasure: Like A Cloud Chased By The Wind, I Flee You, Enraged And Scornful...
27. Beauty: Pure And Eternal, O Great Spirit Of Heaven Who Truly Shows Us An Opening To Love...
28. You, Chosen Minister Of Heaven, Will See Now In My Heart...
The Triumph of Time and Truth is, paradoxically, both Handel's first and last oratorio. He originally composed this allegory on the transience of beauty and worldly pleasure (with only four singers, a chamber orchestra, and an Italian text) for his patron, a Roman cardinal, in 1707 when he was just 22. By 1758, the year Handel died, the work had become an English oratorio with five soloists, full orchestra, and choir. The final version is still available in an excellent 1982 recording (with a cast including Emma Kirkby and Ian Partridge); this release, which followed 1998 performances at the Aston Magna Festival in Massachusetts, presents the 1707 original version, but with the arias in Italian and the recitatives translated into English. (As usual, Handel fans can have fun spotting which music the composer adapted for later works.) Don't be put off by the fact that this is (nominally, at least) a piece of moralizing: the music--all of it--is consistently delightful, even by Handel's standards. The singers and players alike perform with energy, charm, taste, and imagination (particularly in their added ornaments). Soprano Dominique Labelle (Pleasure) and tenor William Hite (Time) give the most engaging performances I've ever heard from them; countertenor Jeffrey Gall (Truth) copes reasonably well with a low-lying role that would better suit a female contralto. Soprano Sharon Baker is spectacular: a tone lovely enough to suit the role of Beauty, excellent diction, and amazing breath control and coloratura--this performance ought to make her a star. -- Matthew Westphal