The Writing on the Wall

Charles T. Downey, A valiant ‘Belshazzar’ at Freer Gallery
Washington Post, April 22, 2013

Handel, Belshazzar, A. Rolfe Johnson, A. Auger, English Concert, T. Pinnock [Review of Jacobs DVD]

Cyrus the Great has been admired by many people, from the ancient Hebrews to the Greeks to Thomas Jefferson. When Cyrus conquered the Babylonians, he freed many enslaved people and returned the cultural objects stolen from them. The Cyrus Cylinder, made to commemorate these events, is on display at the Sackler Gallery, on loan from the British Museum. At the Freer Gallery of Art on Saturday night, the Gallery Voices and the Smithsonian Concerto Grosso performed selections from Handel’s oratorio “Belshazzar,” which recounts the demise of the Babylonians, based primarily on the biblical Book of Daniel.
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Handel, Belshazzar
Libretto by Charles Jennens
The Gallery Voices and Smithsonian Concerto Grosso
Freer Gallery of Art