This is the audio version of our audiovisual recording of Walter Sutcliffe’s acclaimed stage production of Handel’s Brockes Passion (2.110755/NBD0167V) released in November 2024. The work’s status as one of Handel’s masterpieces is beyond question. As an oratorio this is a work that is typically at home in the concert hall, but this version has the added excitement of live performance, and of having been turned into a form of character-driven stage opera.
George Frideric HANDEL (1685–1759)
Brockes Passion
The Story of Jesus, Suffering and Dying for the Sins of the World
Oratorio in two parts, HWV 48 (1719)
Libretto by Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1680–1747)
Sung in German
Romelia Lichtenstein, Vanessa Waldhart, Sopranos • Yulia Sokolik, Mezzo-sopranoRobert Sellier, Tenor • Michael Zehe, Bass
Oper Halle Chorus • Händelfestspielorchester Halle
Michael Hofstetter
Barthold Heinrich Brockes was an influential German poet who added reflective and descriptive poetry into the texture of his Passion. Among several musical settings, the most famous is the one by Handel. This acclaimed staged version transports Handel’s Brockes Passion into the opera house, widening the work’s historical narrative to embrace the creation of the world, bringing a message of human greed and destruction into direct contact with the present day. The Händelfestspielorchester Halle, on period instruments, is conducted by Michael Hofstetter.
Evangelist
Daughter of Zion / Maidservant
Believing Soul
Believing Soul
Jesus
St Peter
St John
St James
Judas / Mercenary
Caiaphas / Pilate / Captain / Believing Soul
Conductor
Soloists and Chorus of Oper Halle
Händelfestspielorchester Halle
Hofstetter • Stutcliffe
– operaramblings
– Classical Net
Wagner • Lowrey • Portillo • Hughes • Boulianne
Arnold Schoenberg Chor • La Folia Barockorchester
Mehta • Herheim
– Fanfare