Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Simon Mayr (1763-1845) was born in Bavaria but spent most of his career in Italy where he became a prolific composer of sacred music as well as secular opera. This oratorio about the conflict between David and King Saul was written in 1795 for the Ospedale dei Mendicanti in Venice, a charitable institution for girls. And here lies the main problem with this CD. The Director, Franz Hauk, has taken the period authentic approach meaning he directs from the harpsichord and, fatally, that all parts are sung by women making it next to impossible to follow for those of us with a limited knowledge of Latin. A mezzo-soprano, Merit Ostermann plays David (and sings very nicely, let it be said) and all other roles are taken by sopranos, making it difficult to distinguish between King Saul (Cornelia Horak), his daughter Michol/Michal (Ai Ichihara) and son Jonathas/Jonathan (Sibylla Duffe). This is such a shame: it is a great story, the music is enjoyable (try to imagine Sir Arthur Sullivan writing in the style of Handel to get an idea) and a great deal of attention to detail has been put into the production for an end result that is next to incomprehensible. An opportunity missed.

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