The concert given earlier this evening in London's Royal Albert Hall featured two biblically inspired works.
Handel's Israel in Egypt is a vivid portrayal of the unjust imprisonment of the Jewish people described in the Book of Exodus. Alexander Goehr 's new work The Death of Moses views the Jewish prophet from the perspective of the late 20th century. In the interval, the composer, who celebrates his
60th birthday this year, talks about the land and poetry that inspired his latest piece.
Conductor John Eliot Gardiner says: "I shall relish the contrast of these two works - one of the most graphic pieces of Handel's choral writing, followed by Alexander Goehr 's new
20th-century gloss on Monteverdi. The sound is not at all Monteverdian - there is a tremendous battery of percussion, including three anvils - but his inspiration has come from 17th-century music drama and the way Monteverdi handled his forces."
With Michael Chance
(counter-tenor),
Nigel Robson (tenor), Monteverdi Choir and Instrumentalists,
English Baroque Soloists.
Introduced by Michael Berkeley. Interval film director Sue Knussen Director Barrie Gavin ● FEATURE: page 6