George Frederick Handel Adrian Boult Thurston Dart - Handel Acis and Galatea (28 tracks) +Album Reviews

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George Frederick Handel, Adrian Boult, Thurston Dart
Handel: Acis and Galatea
Genre: Classical

Track Listings (28) - Disc #1
1. Sinfonia
2. Chorus: 'Oh the Pleasure Of the Plains!'
3. Recitative: 'Ye Verdant Plains And Woody Mountains'
4. Air: 'Hush, Ye Pretty Warbling Quire!'
5. Air: 'Where Shall I Seek the Charming Fair?'
6. Recitative: 'Stay, Shepherd, Stay!'
7. Air: 'Shepherd, What Art Thou Pursuing?'
8. Recitative: 'Lo, Here My Love!'
9. Air: 'Love In Her Eyes Sits Playing'
10. Recitative: 'Oh! Didst Thou Know the Pains Of Absent Love'
11. Air: 'As When the Dove'
12. Duet: 'Happy We'
13. Chorus: 'Wretched Lovers!'
14. Recitative: 'I Rage--I Melt--I Burn'
15. Air: 'O Ruddier Than the Cherry'
16. Recitative: 'Whither, Fairest, Art Thou Running'
17. Air: 'Cease To Beauty To Be Suing'
18. Air: 'Would You Gain the Tender Creature'
19. Recitative: 'His Hideous Love Provokes My Rage'
20. Air: 'Love Sounds th' Alarm'
21. Recitative: 'Cease, Oh Cease, Thou Gentle Youth'
22. Trio: 'The Flocks Shall Leave the Mountains'
23. Recitative: 'Help, Galatea! Help, Ye Parent Gods!'
24. Chorus: 'Mourn, All Ye Muses!'
25. Air With Chorus: 'Must I My Acis Still Bemoan'
26. Recitative: ''Tis Done! Thus I Exert My Pow'r Divine'
27. Air: 'Heart, the Seat Of Soft Delight'
28. Chorus: 'Galatea, Dry Thy Tears'

CD Details

All Artists: George Frederick Handel, Adrian Boult, Thurston Dart, Philomusica of London, Joan Sutherland, David Galliver, Peter Pears
Title: Handel: Acis and Galatea
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Chandos
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 1/15/2008
Genre: Classical
Styles: Opera & Classical Vocal, Historical Periods, Baroque (c.1600-1750)
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 095115314722

CD Reviews

A favorite revived

S. Jones | Schenectady | 02/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have tried out a number of Acis and Galatea's over the years, and this is still my favorite. Admittedly, it was my first, so that may be the reason I find the others not-quite-satisfying. In any case, Boult's approach is impeccable -- and amazing considering that this was recorded before the authenticity movement. He fully captures the lightness and charm, either or both of which are missing in much of the competition.

Sutherland excelled at sounding like a sweet young thing, which is perfect here. Pears' voice may not be beautiful but it's pleasing and he beautifully captures the callow youth of Acis. Brannigan was a wonderful basso buffo and, if you look at Polyphemus as a love-sick oaf (which seems what Handel had in mind), you can't get a better rendition.

I have hated the fact that I had to rely on my defective old records to hear this recording, and I rejoiced when I heard it was belatedly being brought to CD. I wish I could say that I rejoiced when I heard the CD; the five stars are for the recording, not the transfer. It did accomplish one thing that I had hoped: the original has an egregiously whiny tenor in the chorus, and he has been subdued this time around. An another, less fortunate alteration is to Sutherland's voice; they seem to have fiddled with the controls to make her sound more like the later Sutherland. But my main complaint is with the general dullness of the sound. I've heard duller transfers, but this one should win no awards. Someone should wrest Decca's fantastic historic recordings away from them; it reproduces them with such indifference, and often downright incompetence (anybody else notice the warped-record whooas that plaque many of its Sutherland and Horne releases?).

Still, "No grace, no charm is wanting" to give the heart delight in this recording. If you love Handel, and you haven't heard this, you really should.

"