- Performer: Daneman; Petiban; Adnew; Cornwell; Ewing; Christie; Les Arts Florissants
- Composer: Handel George Frideric
- Audio CD (Feb 20 2003)
- SPARS Code: DDD
- Number of Discs: 2
- Label: Eto
- ASIN: B00001SIBI
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #105,673 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Details |
Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Acis And Galatea: Act I: Sinfonia - Presto - William Christie | |||
| 2. Acis And Galatea: Act I: Chorus:' Oh, the pleasure of the plains' - William Christie | |||
| 3. Acis And Galatea: Act I: Recitativo: 'Ye verdant plains and woody mountains' (Galatea) - William Christie | |||
| 4. Acis And Galatea: Act 1: (Air) Andante 'Hush, ye pretty warbling quire!' (Galatea) - William Christie | |||
| 5. Acis And Galatea: Act I: (Air)Larghetto: 'Where shall I seek the charming fair?' (Acis) - William Christie | |||
| 6. Acis And Galatea: Act 1: Recitativo: 'Stay, sherpherd, stay!' (Damon) - William Christie | |||
| 7. Acis And Galatea: Act 1: (Air) Andante: 'Shepherd, what art though pursuing?' (Damon) - William Christie | |||
| 8. Acis And Galatea: Act 1: Recitativo: 'Lo! Here is my love' (Acis) - William Christie | |||
| 9. Acis And Galatea: Act 1: (Air) Larghetto: 'Love in her eyes sits playing' (Acis) - William Christie | |||
| 10. Acis And Galatea: Recitativo: 'Oh! Didst thou know the pains' (Galatea) - William Christie | |||
See all 13 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Acis And Galatea: Act II: A tempo ordinario: 'Wretched Lovers' - G.F. Handel | |||
| 2. Acis And Galatea: Act II: Recitativo accompangnato-furioso: 'I Rage, I Melt, I Burn' (Polyphemus) - G.F. Handel | |||
| 3. Acis And Galatea: Act II: Air-Allegro: 'O Ruddier Than The Cherry' (Polyphemus) - G.F. Handel | |||
| 4. Acis And Galatea: Act II: Recitativo: 'Whither, Fairest, Art Thou Running' (Polyphemus, Galatea) - G.F. Handel | |||
| 5. Acis And Galatea: Act II: Air-Allegro e staccato: 'Cease To Beauty To Be Suing' - G.F. Handel | |||
| 6. Acis And Galatea: Act II: Air-Allegro: 'Would You Gain The Tender Creature' (Damon) - G.F. Handel | |||
| 7. Acis And Galatea: Act II: Recitativo: 'His Hideous Love Provokes My Rage' (Acis) - G.F. Handel | |||
| 8. Acis And Galatea: Act II: Air-Allegro: 'Love Sounds Th' Alarm' (Acis) - G.F. Handel | |||
| 9. Acis And Galatea: Act II: Air-Larghetto: 'Cosndier, Fond Shepherd' (Coridon) - G.F. Handel | |||
| 10. Acis And Galatea: Act II: Recitativo: 'Cease, Oh Cease, Thou Gentle Youth' - G.F. Handel | |||
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See all 17 tracks on this disc
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Product Description
From Amazon.co.uk
Handel's sunny pastorale ("oratorio" seems too imposing a word) Acis and Galatea is just the thing to cheer you up if you're feeling gloomy, its bittersweet ending notwithstanding. It gets performed and recorded these days in several different versions, ranging from Handel's chamber-scaled 1718 original (using only five soloists, who also make up the chorus) to a German-language arrangement by Mozart with four-part choir and orchestra. William Christie's version follows the one that Handel used for a 1739 revival of the piece, in which he gave the sidekick role of Damon (originally for tenor) to a boy soprano and tacked onto Acis and Galatea's duet "Happy We" a choral reprise. The gentle nymph Galatea is the perfect role for Sophie Daneman's light soprano; Paul Agnew's gorgeous tenor is just as well suited to Acis--ardent and brave, yet light enough that you can believe the giant Polyphemus could crush him with a rock. Because he's the villain, Polyphemus is one of the few characters at whose stupidity one can laugh without feeling mean-spirited; the only problem with Alan Ewing's beautifully sung reading is that it's not very funny--it's perhaps too musically nuanced for a character that dumb. As Damon, Patricia Petibon sounds a bit ripe for a shepherd boy, but she's superb, and her embellishments are ingenious (if not particularly spontaneous); tenor Joseph Cornwell as Coridon gives a marvellous (and surprisingly robust) rendition of "Would You Gain The Tender Creature". Conductor William Christie has chosen well--not just his singers but also his tempi: for example, "Must I My Acis Still Bemoan" is much slower than usual, and much more convincingly sad. We think of Christie as a French baroque specialist, but he shows a real feeling for Handel here. --Matthew Westphal
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Superb performance of an offbeat work,
By madamemusico "madamemusico" (Cincinnati, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Acis & Galatea (Audio CD)
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
et in arcadia ego,
By
This review is from: Acis & Galatea (Audio CD)
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, (Who has thought the deepest, loves what is most alive,
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful,
By A Customer
This review is from: Acis & Galatea (Audio CD)
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!
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