Handel’s vivid and dramatic telling of the Exodus story is a choral and orchestral spectacular! The enslavement of the Israelites, the ten plagues of Egypt, the fiery leadership of Moses, the parting of the Red Sea, and the drowning of the Egyptian army are all here. Told in music of gripping drama and breathless pace, Handel’s Israel in Egypt is a dramatic tour de force of massive choruses, brilliant orchestration, and virtuoso arias.

Bruno Weil crosses “Symphonic Bridges” from the galant style of Christian Bach to the explosive fury of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. The flowering of the Classical style is fully explored by way of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat and the third of Haydn’s London symphonies, No. 95 in C Minor. If this Mozart and this Haydn are overshadowed by their more famous brethren symphonies and concertos, discover again the treasures each actually contains. They were, after all, among the most popular works by both composers when new.