Athalia Lynne Dawson Josabeth Nancy Argenta Joad Christopher Robson Mathan Mark Padmore Abner Michael George Conductor Ivor Bolton Choir of Clare College, Cambridge St James's Baroque Players The programme note by Simon Heighes says that Athalia "grips the attention in the idealized theatre of the imagination". Handel's third oratorio, and the first that he composed substantially from new, is based on the play by Racine, and keeps its dramatic shape and force. The Israelites are ruled by Athalia, who has gone over to the worship of Baal. Athalia dreams that she will be killed by an Israelite boy. Joad and Josabeth reveal that their boy, Joas (I couldn't work out whose offspring he is) is the true king. Athalia tries to ensnare him, but loses the army to the Israelites and is dethroned. We never find out what happens to Athalia, but Joad has a vision of her death at the start of act 3. Both language and music present clear-cut characters and themes. The main theme is the tyranny of Athalia, and specifically her Baal-worship, and the inevitable vengance of God for her crimes. Joad is the visionary high priest, with lovely introspective melodies and dramatic ecstasies, Josabeth is the protective mother, who will lose her son either to murder or privilege once it is known that he is the rightful king, Abner is the heavy general and Mathan is the stupid tenor traitor. Above all, the wicked Athalia, descended from Jezebel (and presumably a symbol of Popery), exudes malice and has a couple of Alcina-like demented scenes. The chorus represents both sober Israelites and exuberant, sensual Baalites, with sharply distinguished but equally attractive music. The music is less architectural than the later heroic scriptural oratorios. There's a typical great chorus (foretelling the destruction of the tyrant) at the end of act 2, but there are also many more free-form sections, solos with chorus and arioso fragments, giving the impression of real interaction between the characters and chorus, and some snappy arias to make a brief point. The end result struck me as being a bit like Xerxes. The libretto by Samuel Humphreys is a bit dire in detail, including arias that begin "Blooming virgins" and "Gloomy tyrants". Tonight's performance was lucid and effective. Christopher Robson as Joad sounded sweet most of the time in the comparatively small space of St James's. The tessitura seemed a bit low for him, which is interesting as the role was written for a Anglican counter-tenor. Nancy Argenta as Josabeth was more impressive and expressive than at St John's last week, though I still hear a near-wobble as well as an attractive tone. Michael George as Abner was good and heavy, and Mark Padmore as Mathan was reliable as usual. The outstanding performance was that nice Lynne Dawson, who did a splendid bitch-queen turn, comparable to Judith Howarth's Madame Mao last January. The part of the boy king Joas was sung by a soprano member of the choir, whose name I couldn't find. She sounded fine in the couple of arias, slightly insecure in the recitatives. The choir was pretty good, as usual, as was the orchestra under Ivor Bolton. Both gave a strong sense of drama and coherence to music that could become fragmented.