Handel's oratorio Esther is something of a collectors' item, so where better to tick it off the list than in composer's own parish church, performed under the auspices of the London Handel festival? St George's may have numbingly uncomfortable pews, but its acoustics are ideal, stirring up a thrilling body of sound during the choruses with the brass ranged in the balconies on either side yet still clear and flattering for the solos.
Most modern performances of Esther and all recordings have been of Handel's 1718 version. Its first London performance was given in a tavern on the Strand. The longer version that Handel prepared in 1732 is probably more improving than anything one could spend three hours on in a pub today.
Esther lacks the clear sense of moral strengthening one might expect of a sacred oratorio - for that matter, it lacks anything resembling dramatic impetus. The story, such as it is: Haman persuades the king to slaughter the Jews; Esther, the queen, persuades him not to; Haman is punished; general rejoicing. The crux of this biblical story, the moment the king changes his mind, is the one element that's skipped over so quickly you could easily miss it, while there are too many arias for a nameless Israelite Woman (sung here by Rebecca Outram) that sound lovely but stall the narrative.
Handel prepared this 1732 version with the superstar singers of the day in mind. Rosemary Joshua's bright Esther and Susan Bickley's Mordecai lived up to the challenge, but the counter-tenor James Bowman didn't have quite the bravura for a role written for the celebrated castrato Senesini. Christopher Purves conveyed all we needed to know about the villainous Haman in his first few lines.
But it is the choruses that are the highlight - the singing and, especially, the orchestral playing were admirable, largely due to the spirited, detailed and dynamic conducting of Laurence Cummings.
Both performances are being recorded in the hope of releasing a commercial disc. If the noise of central London at the tail end of the rush hour can be filtered out this should make Handel collectors very happy indeed.
