As an antidote to endless news reports threatening imminent war, surely an evening tucked up with a Handel oratorio would be a good bet? Wrong.
In fact, it would be hard to think up a more topical or less appropriate selection than Joshua. Based on a particularly warmongering section of the Old Testament, the work's story is in essence a catalogue of victory celebrations and incitements to further conquest, punctuated by the odd martial fanfare and only slightly diluted by the presence of a soprano soloist as love interest. Moreover, unless I'm imagining things, the intake of audience breath as the closing words assured us that "Israel can boast a leader, just and brave, a friend to freedom" - on the day Sharon was re-elected - was more than just the usual end-of-evening shuffle.
Still, it would probably be unfair to put Robert King's programming decisions for his own period-instrument band, the King's Consort, down to political motivations. There are several good reasons for performing Joshua, one being that it includes two of Handel's most popular numbers. Handel may have used the melody of See the Conqu'ring Hero Comes more famously in Judas Maccabeus, but the world heard it in Joshua first; and the soprano aria Oh Had I Jubal's Lyre follows on almost directly. The chorus was duly a highlight, beginning jauntily with the barest of accompaniments that expanded for the third verse into an orchestral free-for-all. It was given depth and brightness by the natural trumpets and marched along by a military-style drum.
Not all the score is so memorable, and swathes of the clunky libretto might be best passed over. Yet at times the words do seem to have inspired Handel's creative best, and the character who benefits most is Achsah, first introduced in an aria beautifully wound around duetting violin and cello. Carolyn Sampson, fast becoming London's favourite baroque soprano, glided through the trills and rhythmic details of her birdsong aria with ease.
In the title role, Paul Agnew seemed less comfortable and, though more than a match for the barrage of semiquavers in Haste, Israel Haste, sang elsewhere with a little less than his usual security and finesse. The masculine swagger required for Othniel, the conqu'ring hero himself, was a feature of Hilary Summers's agile, mannish mezzo from the start.
