BBC Proms: Rarely has large-scale Handel felt so vital & involving. Peter Whelan & the Irish Baroque Orchestra in the Dublin version of Alexander’s Feast

Handel: Alexander’s Feast – Hilary Cronin, Stuart Jackson, Peter Whelan, Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus – BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou/ BBC)

Handel: Alexander’s Feast (1742 version, modern premiere), Concerti a due cori; Hilary Cronin, Hugh Cutting, Stuart Jackson, Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus, Peter Whelan; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 30 August 2025

This was unashamedly Big Baroque with the Dublin version of Alexander’s Feast where Peter Whelan drew a remarkably communicative and urgent performance from all his players.

Handel’s Alexander’s Feast tends to be something of an unsung gem amongst his oratorios, perhaps Dryden’s text is somewhat too poetically diffuse for modern audiences to take to their heart but in the work Handel displays his masterly grasp of creating large scale structures by interweaving chorus, recitative and aria into something more. He wrote the work in 1736 as a result of a sustained campaign by his friends to get the composer setting some great English poets, a campaign that would lead to Handel’s other Dryden and Milton settings.

Until this year, the work had only been performed twice at the BBC Proms, in 1964 and in 2006 (this latter performance in Mozart’s re-orchestration). On Saturday 30 August for their first appearance at the BBC Proms (and only the second appearance ever of an ensemble from the Republic of Ireland), Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra chose to perform Handel’s 1742 Dublin version of Alexander’s Feast along with a selection of his Concerti a due cori. The orchestra was joined by the Irish Baroque Chorus and soloists soprano Hilary Cronin, alto Hugh Cutting and tenor Stuart Jackson.

When Handel visited Dublin in 1741 and 1742 he gave two subscription series which would include the premiere of Messiah and a serenata version of his last opera, Imeneo. He also planned on performing Alexander’s Feast but a decree from the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Jonathan Swift, meant that Handel could no longer use the singing men from the cathedral. This meant that Alexander’s Feast had to be adjusted. The result is structurally different from the 1736 version, with a third part, using text by Irish writer Newburgh Hamilton who had arranged Dryden’s original, and solos rewritten for soprano Christina Avolio, alto Susannah Cibber (who was in Dublin avoiding a sex scandal in London and who made a big impression in the alto solos in Messiah) and tenor Callaghan McCarty who was a Dublin-based theatre singer.

Handel: Alexander’s Feast – Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus – BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou/ BBC)

As Peter Whelan explained to me when we chatted in July [see my interview, Spurred by the story-telling], he designed the performance partly for the Royal Albert Hall and this was certainly Big Baroque. We had a chorus of 40, and orchestra with 30 strings, four oboes, three bassoons and four horns. These latter looked and sounded pretty spectacular with their miles of tubing and highly characterful timbre. The continuo line-up included two harpsichords (one played by Whelan), two theorbos and organ.

Each time Handel performed Alexander’s Feast he padded it out with extra instrumental material, usually organ concertos but here Peter Whelan chose to include movements from Handel’s Concerti a due cori HWV 333 and 334.

After an overture which mixed grandeur with remarkable delicacy, Part One set the scene and took us through the set up with Alexander holding his feast in Persepolis to celebrate his victory over the last Persian king, Darius, with the bard Timotheus playing and inculcating a variety of emotions in his listeners from awe to love, even to a drinking song and pity for the vanquished. There was a lot of recitative, much of it accompanied and all three soloists, Hilary Cronin, Hugh Cutting and Stuart Jackson were admirable in the way they not only projected the words, but involved us in their meaning. This was a remarkably communicative performance, engaged and engaging, and very intent.

Handel: Alexander’s Feast – Hilary Cronin, Stuart Jackson, Peter Whelan, Irish Baroque Orchestra – BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou/ BBC)

The solos in Part One moved from Stuart Jackson’s delightfully perky solo ‘Happy pair’ where he was joined by Hilary Cronin for some fabulous runs at the end. Cronin’s own solo ‘With ravished ears’ went with a lovely swing, effortless charm and fluid passagework. Then Jackson returned with a drinking song where he was partnered by the horns. Terrific stuff. Hugh Cutting’s solo was billed as recitative, but he turned it into a finely projected arioso sequence, singing with quiet vividness and superb phrasing. His graceful solo, ‘Softly sweet, in Lydian measures’ was intimate with just solo violin and continuo accompaniment. Jackson’s ‘War he sung’ provided complete contrast, then Cronin had the final solo in Part One, where she combined delicacy with a terrific sense of story telling.

This is not one of Handel’s great choral oratorios, but there is plenty for the chorus. In Part One, they moved from the terrific quasi Coronation Anthem choral build up of their first chorus, to a quietly intent chorus lamenting Darius fall and finally the urgent excitement of the pair of choruses, ‘The many rend the skies’ that bookended Cronin’s final solo.

Part Two has as its centrepiece the work’s best known solo ‘Revenge, Timotheus cries’ with Jackson moving from exciting accompagnato, complete with trumpets, to the aria itself where Jackson combined heroic tone with fine passagework. Then in contrast, Cutting continued the sequence with the marvellous ‘Behold the ghastly band’ accompanied by evocative sounds of just violas, cellos and bassoons. This dramatic sequence ended with a further strong accompanied recitative from Cutting, and a pair of solos from Jackson and Cronin, leading to the chorus ‘The princes applaud with furious joy’, by turns vigorous and graceful, where Alexander and his guests set off to set fire to the Persians’ palace in revenge.

Handel: Alexander’s Feast – Hugh Cutting, Peter Whelan, Irish Baroque Orchestra – BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou/ BBC)

This is followed by the most important sequence in the piece, where Dryden links the musician Timotheus’ ability to draw love and war out of his listeners to the modern day Saint Cecilia. Here the recitative was delicately given by Jackson in highly communicative manner. This part ended with one of Handel’s terrific large-scale choruses, its steady build up using Handel’s best grand fugal manner.

Part Three used text by Newburgh Hamilton which harked back to the St Cecilia image and this sequence involved the reconstruction of a lost aria which previously prevented the Dublin version from being performed. Hugh Cutting made the new/old aria really count, building up tension until the excitement of the chorus ‘Your voices tune’. Handel then introduces a further vein of humour, setting the duet ‘Let’s imitate her note above’ using lots of imitation for his soloists, Cronin and Cutting, and we ended with another grand chorus, catchy with a swing and four horns. Terrific stuff.

The Concerti a due cori proved great punctuation points between the parts. With the wind arranged in two choirs, these movements really showed off the orchestras fine horn, oboe and bassoon playing, but it was frankly the sound of two pair of duetting horns plying with excitement and relish that really captured my imagination, the sound filling the Royal Albert Hall in a way that rarely happens.

Handel: Alexander’s Feast – Peter Whelan, Irish Baroque Orchestra – BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou/ BBC)

Throughout the evening, Peter Whelan drew a remarkably communicative and urgent performance from all his players. This was far from a simply polite, academic reconstruction, there was nothing worthy about it. Whelan managed to make every note vital, filling the hall with vibrant sounds yet also conveying the meaning of the work with the importance of music. Rarely has large-scale Handel felt so involving. And there was an encore too; all the performers and soloists joined together for the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah!