Gideon is not a neglected Handel oratorio, but a posthumous pasticcio cobbled together in 1769 by Handel’s assistant and only pupil John Christopher Smith Jnr and the librettist Thomas Morell. New texts were fitted to music chosen from the Handel manuscripts Smith had inherited. Smith was a good judge of Handel’s music, and recognised the superb quality of early Italian works that were entirely unfamiliar in London. Many highlights are adapted from the Dixit Dominus and Laudate pueri. Smith also borrowed from La Resurrezione,/I>, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and even the Florentine opera Rodrigo. Nothing in Gideon was taken from any Italian opera or English oratorio that Handel had produced for London. Handel’s magnificent ‘Nine German Arias’ were composed in London, but, while these remained unpublished until 1921, Smith knew and valued them enough to include four in Gideon. The overture, recitatives and some numbers were composed by Smith, and reveal him as a competent composer of attractive music long overdue a fair reappraisal.

Sadly, music that is excellent on paper simply fails to compound itself into a convincing oratorio. Morell’s libretti for Theodora and Jephtha created characters with vivid personalities, and masterfully paced development of dramatic tension. That simply does not happen in Gideon, although the performance cannot help. The soloists have proved to be capable singers elsewhere, but here they lack personality, and the failure of the sopranos to blend in ensembles is a painful ordeal. The Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra are consistently uninspired. The Junge Kantorei’s English pronunciation is adequate, but that does not compensate for woolly consonants, sloppy tuning and approximate balance. There is a plethora of German ensembles and directors – most of them on CPO’s roster – who would have done this worthy project greater artistic justice.

Maybe the failure of Gideon is due to Morell and Smith being talented imitators rather than inspired creators. This unconvincing performance does at least arouse a desire to hear Smith’s own music.