“Handel’s Israel in Egypt is a work brimming with vivid choruses: part one’s almost-exclusively-choral roller coaster retelling of Moses and the Israelites’ Exodus out of Egypt is packed with exciting and virtuosic choruses depicting plagues of frogs, flies, locusts, hailstones and the parting of the Red Sea to name a few!
The rejoicing of part two allows more opportunity for our six soloists to shine in a series of delightful arias and duets, but it’s still the double-choir choruses that dominate, right up until the glorious final chorus that brings this journey of biblical proportions to a rousing conclusion.
As choral works go, they don’t come much more dramatic than this! “