 
Thomas Arne: Artaxerxes
CDD22073 (2 discs)
DDD
REISSUE
Playing time: 140'16"
Tracks: 33+25
Booklet pages: 20
© 2009 Hyperion Records Ltd
Reviewer: Robert Anderson
Review of Thomas Arne: Artaxerxes published on 22 November 2009
Christopher Robson, Artaxerxes
Ian Partridge, Artabanes
Patricia Spence, Arbaces
Richard Edgar-Wilson, Rimenes
Catherine Bott, Mandane
Philippa Hyde, Semira
The Parley of Instruments
Roy Goodman, conductor
Thomas Arne (1710-1778):
Artaxerxes
CD1
1 Overture. Poco piu che andante - Larghetto - Gavotta
Act I
2 Still silence reigns around (recit)
3 Fair Aurora, pr'ythee stay (duettino, Mandane and Arbaces)
4 Alas, thou know'st that for my Love of thee (recit)
5 Adieu, thou lovely Youth (air, Mandane)
6 O cruel parting! (recit)
7 Amid a thousand racking Woes (air, Arbaces)
8 Be firm my Heart (recit)
9 Behold, on Lethe's dismal Strand (air, Artabanes)
10 Stay, Artaxerxes, stay (recit)
11 Fair Semira, lovely Maid (air, Artaxerxes)
12 I fear some dread Disaster (recit)
13 When real Joys we miss (air, Rimenes)
14 Ye Gods, Protectors of the Persian Empire (recit)
15 How hard is the Fate (air, Semira)
16 Where do I fly? (recit)
17 Thy Father! away, I renounce the soft Claim (air, Artabanes)
18 Ye cruel Gods, what Crime have I committed? (recit)
19 Acquit thee of this foul Offence (air, Semira)
20 Appearance, I must own, is strong against me (recit)
21 O too lovely, too unkind (air, Arbaces)
22 Dear and beloved Shade of my dead Father (recit)
23 Fly, soft Ideas, fly (air, Mandane)
Act II
24 Guards, speed ye to the Tower (recit)
25 In Infancy, our Hopes and Fears (air, Artaxerxes)
26 So far my great Resolve succeeds (recit)
27 Disdainful you fly me (air, Arbaces)
28 Why, my dear Friend, so pensive, so inactive? (recit)
29 To sign and complain (air, Rimenes)
30 How many Links to dire Misfortune's Chain! (recit)
31 If o'er the cruel Tyrant Love (air, Mandane)
32 Which fatal Evil shall I first oppose? (recit)
33 If the River's swelling Waves (air, Semira)
CD2
1 Ye solid Pillars of the Persian Empire (recit)
2 By that belov'd Embrace (air, Arbaces)
3 Ah me! at poor Arbaces parting
4 Monster, away! (air, Mandane)
5 See, lov'd Semira (recit)
6 Thou, like the glorious Sun (air, Artabanes)
Act III
7 Why is Death for ever late (arietta, Arbaces)
8 Arbaces! (recit)
9 Water parted from the Sea (air, Arbaces)
10 That Front, secure in conscious Innocence (recit)
11 Tho' oft a Cloud, with envious Shade (air, Artaxerxes)
12 My Son, Arbaces - where art thou retir'd? (recit)
13 O let the Danger of a Son (air, Rimenes)
14 Ye adverse Gods! (recit)
15 O, much lov'd Son, if Death (air, Artabanes)
16 Perhaps the King releas'd Arbaces (recit)
17 Let not Rage thy Bosom firing (air, Mandane)
18 What have I done? alas, I vainly thought
19 'Tis not true, that in our Grief (air, Semira)
20 Nor here my searching Eyes can find Mandane (recit)
21 For thee I live, my Dearest (duetto, Arbaces and Mandane)
22 To you my People, much belov'd, I offer (recit)
23 The Soldier, tir'd of War's Alarms (air, Mandane)
24 Behold my King, Arbaces at thy Feet (recit)
25 Live to us, to Empire live (chorus)
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