Historia Balthasar
Rex Assyriorum'
John Wynton (tenor) John Duncan (tenor)
Alexander Henderson (bass)
BBC Chorus
Martindale Sidwell (organ)
Jacques String Orchestra
(Leader, Irene Richards )
Conducted by Leslie Woodgate
Giovanni Giacomo Carissimi (1604-1674) produced a remaikable number of Latin oratorios during his choirmastcrship at the church of S. Apollinare in Rome. He excelled in choral writing and made the most of what were essentially naive harmonic effects. This version of the story of Belshazzar has ample rhythmic vitality and a fresh and unique melodic charm. Tense dramatic situations such as Daniel's translation of the writing on the wall receive only the slightest musical stress: here Canssimi has been content to set the three mysierious words and their translauon on rising degiees of the scale.
Denis Stevens