George Frideric Handel:
Susanna - Crystal streams in murmurs flowing (Air from Act II, Scene 2 of the three-act oratorio "Susanna", HWV 66)
Sinfonia
Theodora - O thou bright Sun!
With Darkness deep as is my Woe
Symphony of soft Musick
Theodora - But why art thou disquieted
O that I on Wings cou’d rise (Sinfonie, accompanied recitatives, and airs from Act II, Scene 2 of the three-act oratorio "Theodora", HWV 68)
Pleasure - There the brisk sparkling nectar drain (Air from Scene 1 of the one-act oratorio "The Choice of Hercules", HWV 69)
Iphis - Ye sacred priests
Farewell, ye limpid springs and floods (Accompanied recitative and air from Act III, Scene 1 of the three-act oratorio "Jephtha", HWV 70)
Queen of Sheba - Will the Sun forget to streak (Air from Act III of the three-act oratorio "Solomon", HWV 67)

Vincenzo Ciampi:
Emirena - O Dio! Mancar mi sento (Aria from Act III, Scene 7 of the three-act ‘dramma per musica’ "Adriano in Siria")
Camilla - La per l’ombrosa sponda (Aria from Act II, Scene 1 of the ‘dramma per musica’ "Il trionfo di Camilla")

Thomas Augustine Arne:
Arbaces - Why is death for ever late (Air from Act III, Scene 1 of the three-act serious opera "Artaxerxes")
Eltruda - Gracious Heav’n, O hear me! (Air from Act II, Scene 2 of the three-act masque "Alfred")

John Christopher Smith:
Eve - Oh! do not, Adam, exercise on me thy hatred -
It comes! it comes! it must be death! (Accompanied recitative and song from Act III of the three-act oratorio "Paradise Lost")
Rebecca - But see, the night with silent pace steals on –
O balmy Sleep! (Accompanied recitative and song from Act II of the three-act oratorio "Rebecca")

Philip Hayes:
Parthenope - Soon arrives thy fatal hour (Air from Act I of the two-act masque "Telemachus")

Excelling in Renaissance and baroque repertoire, the young British soprano Ruby Hughes pays tribute to Handel’s last prima donna, the Italian soprano Giulia Frasi.

For her debut recording on Chandos she has chosen a selection of celebrated arias composed for Frasi by Handel, in his late oratorios Susanna, Solomon, Theodora, and Jephtha, and other composers of the era, whose works are now much less familiar, offering several modern premieres.

Performed on period instruments by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Laurence Cummings, and recorded in surroundsound, this programme is unique of its kind.

---

Recording: Church of St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London NW11; 27, 28, and 30 July 2017