Prom 25: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra / McGegan <br></br>Prom 29: Akademie Fur Alte Musik Berlin, Royal Albert Hall, London
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Your support makes all the difference.Actually, the Handel proved the less rewarding component of the Philharmonia programme. This was partly because that stylish tenor John Mark Ainsley seemed too tight-voiced for the long lines of "Where'er you walk" from Semele and "Waft her, angels" from Jeptha. But McGegan's approach to the Suite in F from the Water Music also seemed over-neat.
On the other hand, the Suite from Rameau's late opera Les Paladins was a total delight, from the quick-change scoring of its Ouverture to its bouncy final Contredanse - with McGegan pointing piquant details, drawing forth expressive phrases and vividly articulating cross-rhythms. And, in the higher tessitura of Rameau's earlier opera Dardanus, Ainsley regained his focus.
The Berliners also opened with Water Music: Telemann's ingenious Suite "Hamburg Ebb and Flow", with its Gigue in which one can hear the tide coming up the Elbe. After a deceptively somnolent tempo for the overture, the rest was dispatched with lively precision - rather more so than in the concluding account, Bach's Orchestral Suite No 4 in D, BWV1069.
In between, the soprano Maria Christina Kierhr and the countertenor Daniel Taylor sung a Handel aria apiece and two duets, of which Taylor's delivery of the aria "Cara sposa, amante cara" from Rinaldo was especially relished by an enthusiastic audience.
The Proms can be heard at www.bbc.co.uk/proms
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