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Presented by Catherine Bott.

In a concert given at the London Handel Festival to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, the London Handel Singers and Orchestra perform the oratorio Jephtha. One of Handel's most heartfelt and dramatic such works, it was the last major piece he composed before his sight failed.

John Mark Ainsley is Jephtha, who has an impossible decision to make - he has promised to make a sacrifice to God of the first person he sees if he returns home victorious from battle. The first person to appear is his daughter, Iphis. His personal agony is hauntingly described by Handel, as is her calm acceptance of her fate, in music of great emotional depth.

During the interval, Sarah Walker visits the Handel House Museum and its exhibition.

Handel: Jephtha

John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
Sarah Tynan (soprano)
Diana Moore (mezzo-soprano)
Rhona McKail (soprano)
Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Derek Welton (baritone)
London Handel Singers
London Handel Orchestra
Laurence Cummings (conductor).