Susanna
Handel's oratorio based on the story of Susanna and the Elders in the Apocrypha, given in concert during last year's London Handel Festival at St George's, Hanover Square.
Handel lived just round the corner in Brook Street and he was a regular visitor to the church. The scene for the oratorio is set in Babylon during the Jewish exile. Susanna is falsely accused of being unfaithful to her husband by two Elders who try to seduce her, and she is condemned to death. The story inspired Handel to write one of his most intimate and sensitive works - more like a chamber opera than grand oratorio.
London Handel Choir and Orchestra, conductor Denys Darlow