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Where'er You Walk - Handel's Favourite Tenor / Allan Clayton

Release Date: 05/06/2016
Label: Signum U.k. Catalog #: 457 Spars Code: DDD
Composer:  George Frideric Handel ,  William Boyce ,  John Christopher Smith ,  Thomas Arne Performer:  Allan Clayton ,  James Eastaway ,  John Beard ,  Mary Bevan  ...  Conductor:  Ian Page Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo Length: 1 Hours 9 Mins.

All-round superstar tenor Allan Clayton steps ably into the part of the celebrated tenor John Beard (1716-1791), soloist of choice for Handel and his contemporaries: a wealth of arias (plus a gorgeous duet with Mary Bevan), all deliciously accompanied by Classical Opera and Ian Page.

R E V I E W:

When it comes to Handel aria collections, it's the countertenors and sopranos that get all the recording time. The entirely beneficial trend of organizing these recordings by the people who sang the music in Handel's time may touch on a tenor here for the first time, and the effect is different from the various albums devoted to the soprano and countertenor repertoire. The tenor John Beard was not a flashy Italian Read more import, but a native Englander, and he had a long career with Handel. He might, the detailed booklet observes, have sung Handel's anthems as a 12-year-old at the coronation of George II in 1727. One imagines that while Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni were making headlines by duking it out on-stage, connoisseurs preferred a quieter appreciation of Beard. There are several attractive features here, starting with the voice of tenor Allan Clayton: it seems suited to languid pastoral melodies, but explodes quite unexpectedly with power in the heroic ones. You get several chunks of music beyond single arias, including one by William Boyce (tracks 11-14), which breaks up the elevated Handelian mood nicely. The gentle playing of the choir and orchestra of Classical Opera under Ian Page fits the general concept well, and much of the material deserves a fresh, careful performance. Sample Clayton's extraordinarily graceful reading of "As steals the morn" from L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato (track ten), and enjoy!

-- AllMusic Guide
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