Customer Reviews

Handel: Acis and Galatea

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This delightful pastoral cantata has not been as lucky on record as one would wish. The old Gardiner recording has been the general recommendation for over 20 years, but now comes this new ERATO recording and easily swipes the board. The singers are marvelous, especially the full voiced tenor Paul Agnew, but it is the conducting of William Christie that makes this set so very special. Don't miss it, it's delightful.

Wonderfully entertaining, both Handel's delicious music and William Christie's equally delicious performance. Christie's expert orchestra is in especially fine form and captured in an acoustical setting that permits the delicacies of this intimate entertainment to shine but never overwhelm. It is like hearing the work in the hall of one of the great houses of England, which it indeed was in its day.

The soloists are all top-notch, but special praise must be accorded Bass Alan Ewing. His air "O ruddier than the cherry" is delightfully ardent, straying to just this side of the outright randy, if that's an appropriate adjective for a character from a Handel entertainment. It is--just listen to "Semele" sometime! Fine work as well in this air from Sebastien Marq playing the sopranino recorder, a fey little touch by Handel that is just one of many wonderful instrumental flourishes given the royal treatment by Les Arts Florissants.

In this recording by William Christie's crack band of players, the scale is very intimate so one can feel the textures of each individual instrument. No, you will not get the power of a large-scale Messiah, but this piece of art is of a different nature. It is about the open air, the deep love between a shepherd and a nymph, and the tragedy caused by a jealous cyclops. The vocal soloists are all in top form, especially the ladies Daneman and Petibon who seem to be singing sweetly right there in the room with you. A triumph!

While I must grant Stuart Howard whatever cup of tea pleases him best, I simply cannot fathom how he could find "Acis and Galatea" "relentlessly sugary-sweet." This music is sweet, yet it is a sweetness shrouded in a melancholy that is all the more profound for lacking all psychological and dramatic motivation, historical pomp, philosophical convolution, and all those other things that amaze small minds but only distract from the true wonder of mortal life. Where else, after all, are "depths" to be found than in love, beauty, joy, sorrow, death, the relation of Gods to Humans --- and what better stands repetition than a work which presents those passions in their purity whose own repetition and alternation is the ineradicable substance of life itself?
In the words of the poet Hölderlin:

Wer das Tiefste gedacht, liebt das Lebendigste,
Hohe Jugend versteht, wer in die Welt geblickt,
Und es neigen die Weisen
Oft am Ende zu Schönem sich.

(Who has thought the deepest, loves what is most alive,
He who has glanced into the world, understands high youth,
And the wise often incline
In the end to the beautiful)

In the history of opera, "Acis and Galatea" occupies a strange niche. Too short and too episodic to really be considered an opera in the true sense of the word, its light, buoyant score has nevertheless survived 300 years because it is just so good. Where else except perhaps in "Messiah" did Handel come up with so many bouyant, heartwarming melodies--"Hush, ye pretty warbling quire," "Shepherd, what art thou pursuing?", "Love in her eyes sits playing," "As when the dove laments her love," "Happy we," "O ruddier than the cherry" and "Love sounds th' alarm"--backed by such sensitive and original scoring? Granted, most of the score tends towards the lyrical than the allegro, but its deceptive simplicity is exactly what makes it a treasure to listen to.

This is the most spirited performance I've heard since the old Sutherland-Pears, and the most transparent playing and singing I've heard since the Gardiner recording, with a lilt and life all its own. Paul Agnew is a good English tenor, Daneman's slightly fluttery soprano sounds uncommonly good as Galatea, Petibon does a nice job with Damon, and Alan Ewing is a fine, rich-voiced Polyphemus (though he, like all other Polyphemuses since the great Peter Dawson, aspirates his runs in "O ruddier than the cherry"). Christie's conducting, which can sometimes sound a bit staid on records, just bubbles over with life here. A must-have for Handelians, or anyone else who likes Baroque music but is not a fan of the vocal frills and furbelows found in most early 18th-century opera.

My lifelong search for the perfect Acis and Galatea is by no means over, but it has been satisfied for the time being by this spectacular recording a la William Christy and his near perfect cast of baroque crooners. In fact, it's the best version I've heard to date.

ONLY COMPLAINT: the orchestra, while conducted masterfully, is not quite as sharp and articulate, and lacks the bass depth of some versions. DON'T LET THIS SWAY YOU, however, because this is above all a vocal work, and you just can't find a more convincing vocal ensemble than this.

I was moved, and if all your sensate organs are intact, you will be, too. Goes well with a nice glass of Cabernet. If that's not your thing, may I suggest grape Kool Aid, on the rocks.

This recording has almost everything: a superb ensemble complemented by fine soloists, well-recorded sound and good production values (and a bonus, excellent booklet essay -- did the conductor ever read this?). Yet it is serious disappointment which reveals the limitations of Christie as he strays further afield of the courtly French baroque style with its euphonious if artificial glaze.

In place of true understanding and sympathy for this music, Christie substitutes his wind-up version of 'authenticity', with absurdly fast tempi (venture no further than the opening overture, where it sounds like the musicians have been spooked by a bolt of lightning). From this mechanical solution, no expressive potential can be unlocked. Layered on top is a clotted vocal texture (Christie adds additional voices to the 'choral' sections, a real backfire) which destroys the transparency of this perfect watercolor. A canvas with thick impasto is all that remains. In short, Christie's direction is too pompous, gauche and unfeeling to be matched to this masterpiece.

Gardiner and King are to be strongly preferred, and even van Asch's single disc on Naxos, a 'barebones' production (which never sounds rushed) captures the spirit of this pastoral composition in a far more convincing realization.

Let me begin by saying that I am a huge fan of Handel's vocal music, from his operas, esp. "Julius Caesar" to his oratorios, esp. "Messiah" and "Israel in Egypt" to the miscellaneous works like "Dixit Dominus." After listening to this beautifully produced recording of "Acis and Galatea" I realize that it is just not my cup of tea. It is relentlessly, sugary-sweet and has none of the drama of "Julius Caesar," none of the fireworks of "Alcina" (esp. in the hard-to-find Joan Sutherland studio recording on Decca) and none of the magnificent serenity of "Semele." I am also a fan of the work of Les Arts Florissants & William Christie and, as usual, they do a splendid job here, although I did find the three tenors involved all rather dull. "Acis" is a pretty piece, but not one that I'll want to play over and over in order to find new depths, since, excuse me, there is less here than meets the ears.