Few Handel releases have given me as much enjoyment as the recent EMI recording of his Nine German Arias with Emma Kirkby and London Baroque. Here, now, is another performance. This is, in fact, Elisabeth Speiser's second recording of the nine Arias for, as you may recall, she was also the singer in a Vox Turnabout release some 20 or so years ago (TV340245, 4/66—nla). On that occasion she was supported by a variety of obbligato instruments of which the violin was but one. Handel did not name his intended obbligato instrument in the score but the character of the writing makes a violin seem the most likely and, in Jaap Schroder, Elisabeth Speiser has found a particularly expressive partner. The edition followed here, by the way, is the 1920 one by Herman Roth which offers what I'm sure in the wrong solution to the closing vitornello of ''Das zitternde Glanzen''. This has been put to rights in a more recent edition by Walter Siegmund-Schultze.
The texts of the Arias are by the German early Enlightenment poet, Barthold Heinrich Brockes, and come from his massive oeuvre Irdisches Vergnugen in Gott ( ''Earthly Contentment/Joy in God''). Telemann, too, set some of Brockes's poems and was rapped over the knuckles by Mattheson for his imitative depiction of the texts. Handel's setting are on a different level and, as I remarked in my earlier review of the EMI release, his affectionate shading of Brockes's images of nature never fails to enchant me. Each poem falls into a set scheme in which a passage descriptive of Nature is followed by a contemplative eulogy to God her creator. It seems to me that Handel, in his avoidance of ornate expression and with his almost unrivalled gifts as a melodist captures the spirit of these poems to perfection.
Elisabeth Speiser gives an eloquent and often affecting account of the Arias but she does not possess the carefree, innocent freshness of Emma Kirkby's voice which I find irresistible in this music. Speiser in every instance prefers a slower tempo to Kirkby; sometimes it is as little as to make small difference but, in general, I prefer Kirkby's pace. Speiser, furthermore, is weighed down by a heavier tread in the string basso continuo which I began to find a little monotonous after a while. Jaap Schroder's violin playing, on the other hand, is absolutely splendid throughout. His phrasing is beautifully articulate and full of character—one has only to listen to the way in which he colours the text of Die ihr aus dunklen Gruften to see what I mean. Altogether, this playing, full of gesture and sometimes caricature, too, provides a vividly communicative partnership with the voice. It is this feature of the new issues, above all, which makes me want to listen to it many times over. Emma Kirkby and London Baroque closer in my affection but anyone who has any regard for these pieces will want to hear this release as well. Elisabeth Speiser, remarkably, sounds as youthful now as she did in 1965 when she recorded her earlier version of the Arias. Texts in German only, I'm afraid.'