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<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.2/55703?ns=guardian&pageName=Handel%3A+Alexander%27s+Feast+*+review%3AArticle%3A1553685&ch=Music&c3=Guardian&c4=Classical+music+%28Music+genre%29%2CMusic%2CCulture&c5=Classical+Music%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Tim+Ashley&c7-May-05&c853685&c9=Article&c10=Album+review%2CReview&c11=Music&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FMusic%2FClassical+music" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Bevan/ Lyon/Berger/Ludus Baroque/Neville-Towle<br />(Delphian, 2CDs)</p><p>Founded by Richard Neville-Towle in 1997, Ludus Baroque is a period ensemble based at Edinburgh's Canongate Kirk, where this recording of Alexander's Feast was made last year. It's a fine interpretation that mines the work's rich ambiguities for all they are worth. Handel's great setting of Dryden examines "the Power of Musick" to provoke in turn desire, sorrow, heroism and irrational violence, before demanding we view it as a heaven-sent gift capable of turning our thoughts to the divine. Neville-Towle keeps the tone worldly, sensuous and exultant until near the end, when there's a vague but telling sense of sadness, as well as calm when contemplation gradually replaces action. The playing is sharply focused, the choral singing tremendous in its elan and warmth. The soloists are rather closely recorded, which doesn't help soprano Sophie Bevan, who takes a while to settle. Ed Lyon is the forthright tenor, but it is baritone William Berger who steals the show with his terrific performance of Revenge Timotheus Cries, the aria that embodies music's potential for emotive danger as well as its beauty. Recommended.</p><p class="rating">Rating: 4/5</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/classicalmusicandopera">Classical music</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/timashley">Tim Ashley</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" />
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<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/may/05/handel-alexanders-feast-review">Link</a>