Handel’s oratorio Samson was first performed at Covent Garden in 1743, and frequently revived with many changes, additions and abridgements by the composer to the cast, music and text, depending on the singers and forces available. Conductor and Master of Music at St George’s Cathedral Joseph Nolan has made his own two-hour abridgement (the ‘complete’ work runs for over three hours) for this, the first performance of Samson in Perth. In doing so, Nolan weighed up narrative and musical considerations and balancing the recitatives (which contain most of the poetry and storytelling) with the arias and choruses, which respectively convey the work’s melodic, harmonic, instrumental and emotional riches.

St George’s Cathedral Consort performs Handel’s Samson. Photo © Rebecca Mansell 

Samson was composed shortly after Handel’s most famous work Messiah and consolidates the German composer’s turn from Italian opera to the development of the English oratorio. This was an artistic and business decision in response to the success, as well as the waxing and waning in popularity of the Italian operas that had initially made his name and fortune after his emigration from Germany to London via Italy. He was also...