Afternoon on 3 - The Viola - Handel's Silla/Viola Music

Handel Operas 2009 Penny Gore introduces another in Radio 3's year-long series of Handel operas. Written in London in 1713, it's a short piece by Handel's standards and follows the repulsive and somewhat inept Roman dictator, Silla. Due to the fact that some of the music is missing from Handel's score, this performance has filled in the gaps by using material from other operatic works by Handel - who was known to be a great recycler of his own music. Handel: Silla, opera in three acts Silla ...... James Bowman (countertenor) Lepido ...... Joanne Lunn (soprano) Claudio ...... Simon Baker (countertenor) Metella ...... Rachel Nicholls (soprano) Flavia ...... Natasha Marsh (soprano) Celia ...... Elizabeth Cragg (soprano) Il Dio ...... Christopher Dixon (bass) The London Handel Orchestra Denys Darlow (conductor) 4.00pm Viola Penny Gore presents part of a series of programmes in which the 'Cinderella of the orchestra', the viola, takes centre stage, with a variety of concertos, sonatas and other works for the instrument. Mozart: Trio in E flat for clarinet, viola and piano, K498 (Kegelstatt) Martin Frost (clarinet) Antoine Tamestit (viola) Cedric Tiberghien (piano) George Benjamin: Viola, Viola Scott Dickinson and Andrew Berridge (violas) Elgar: Introduction and Allegro for strings BBC National Orchestra of Wales Richard Hickox (conductor).