My friend Mark is a big Handel fan. He always says that the composer and Stephin Merritt share important traits. I haven't quit understood the connection, and it's not that which led me to the door of Handel. But when a trusted buddie describes someone as a "god [whose] ability to turn out examples of prevailing styles and forms — but in perfected and improved states — is the very definition of an artist", it would be daft to take no notice.
So, a few years ago, I sent Mark the list of Handel recordings available on eMusic, to which he replied, "A most lamentable selection. Dixit Dominus is slightly acceptable."
I can't find any record of further correspondence or advice beyond that. So I think I resorted to my usual criteria: find one with a nice cover that looks like good value for money in terms of minutes per pound. Plus it includes Dixit Dominus. And it's by the same team that did the recording I have of Monteverdi's Vespers.
But what a cover! A detail from Sassoferrato's The Virgin in Prayer. Not being a Catholic, I still like to get Christmas cards with images like this.
Generally I'm a sucker for plainchant, or almost any kind of devotional music. This is very beautiful, and my failure to be moved by it bothers me.
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