The walls of Jericho are shaken again

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The wall-flattening trumpets of Jericho opened the 31st London Handel Festival in a performance of his oratorio Joshua. There was an added frisson in that this performance (of the original 1748 version) was being recorded by Somm. An evening punctuated by fanfares, alarms and celebratory marches is nightmarish enough for period brass players without knowing any slip will be preserved for posterity. But trumpeters Neil Brough and Michael Laird and horn players Andrew Clark and Clare Penkey are top-notch and delivered their exhilarating contributions with aplomb.

The only hitch occurred when conductor Laurence Cummings found he lacked a vital page of the edition in question and repaired to the green room to make a non-period photocopy.

The oratorio tells the story of the Israelites led by Joshua occupying the "promised land" of Canaan. Woven into the narrative is some decidedly apocryphal love interest between a young Israelite commander, Othniel, and the daughter of an Israelite elder, Achsah.

Allan Clayton, a tenor rapidly making a name for himself, was suitably heroic in the title role, but always attractive of tone and eloquent of expression. George Humphreys deployed his resonant bass to excellent effect in the work's greatest aria, Shall I in Mamre's Fertile Plain - Handel in his most sublime vein.

Katherine Manley and Alexandra Gibson both had fine moments as Achsah and Othniel, even if O! Had I Jubal's Lyre, somewhat on the brisk side, demonstrated agility rather than exultation. The London Handel Orchestra responded well to Cummings's often demanding tempi, while the London Handel Singers splendidly depicted the Israelites in both victory and defeat.

Festival information: 01460 54660.

London Handel Festival: London Handel Orchestra/Cummings - Handel's Joshua
St George's Church
Hanover Square, Mayfair, W1S 1JD