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506 625 430
open:
30-31.12 - 2pm-7pm
phone / fax no.
+48 504 856 500, + 48 504 063 337, + 48 12 619 87 22
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ORATORIO CONCERT
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performer(s):
Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir
Paul Esswood – conductor
James Oxley (Jephtha) – tenor
Jolanta Kowalska-Pawlikowska (Iphis) – soprano
Ewelina Rakoca-Larcher (Storgé) – mezzo-soprano
Jarosław Kitala (Zebul) – bass
Łukasz Dulewicz (Hamor) – alto
Katarzyna Guran (Anioł) – soprano
Jan Čižmář – theorbo
Jacek Kociuban - cello
Andrzej Zawisza – harpsichord
Teresa Majka-Pacanek – choimaster
programme:
Georg Friedrich Haendel – Jephtha
Georg Frederic Handel’s last oratorio, and at the same time his final work of music, was born in a race against time. “How dark, O Lord, are Thy decrees,” the culmination chorus, closing the second act, expresses both the tragic dilemmas of the protagonist, an Israelite leader and judge, who drove himself into a tragic trap, as well as the experiences of Handel himself, struggling with the progressively worse attacks of blindness, which had him compose the score for an unusually long time. That is perhaps also the reason why the music is saturated with a poignant and abyssal dramatic quality of the experience. The mature and experienced composer, aged 67, and in his creative prime, was by no means ready to give up on his life, but he did part with the world, fully aware of the fact that Jephtha would be his final oratorio. One that is inherently Handel-esque, but unique at the same time. Indeed, the music has a profundity that was rarely reached for by il caro Sassone.
Jakub Puchalski
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© Filharmonia Krakowska 2010