Handel - Aci, Galatea e Polifemo / Kirkby · Watkinson · D. Thomas · London Baroque · Medlam

Handel - Aci, Galatea e Polifemo / Kirkby · Watkinson · D. Thomas · London Baroque · Medlam

Handel - Aci, Galatea e Polifemo / Kirkby · Watkinson · D. Thomas · London Baroque · Medlam
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CD Details

Composer: George Frideric Handel
Conductor: Charles Medlam
Orchestra: London Baroque
Performer: Emma Kirkby
Performer: Carolyn Watkinson
Performer: David Thomas
Performer: Michel Piguet
Performer: John Toll
Edition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 1998-03-10
Music Label: Harmonia Mundi
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Duetto: 'Sorge Il Di' - Emma Kirkby/Carolyn Watkinson
  2. Recit.: 'Vanti, O Cara'/Aria: 'Sforzano A Piangere' - Carolyn Watkinson
  3. Recit.: 'E Qual Nova Sventura'/Aria: 'Che Non Puo La Gelosia' - Emma Kirkby
  4. Recit.: 'Ma Qual Orrido Suono' - London Baroque/Charles Medlam
  5. 'Sibilar L'Angui D'Aletto' - David Thomas
  6. Recit.: 'Deh Lascia, Oh Polifemo'/Aria: 'Benche Tuoni E L'Etra Avampi' - Carolyn Watkinson
  7. Recit.: 'Cadrai Depressa'/Aria: 'Non Sempre, No, Crudele' - David Thomas
  8. Recit.: 'Folle Quanto Mi Rido'/Aria: 'Dell' Aquila L'Artigli' - Emma Kirkby
  9. Recit.: 'Meglio Spiega'/Aria: 'Precipitoso Nel Mar' - David Thomas
  10. Recit.: 'Si, T'Intendo Inumano'/Aria: 'S'Agita' - Carolyn Watkinson
  11. 'Recit.: So Che Le Cinosure'/Aria: 'Provera' - Emma Kirkby/Carolyn Watkinson/David Thomas
  12. Recit.: 'Ingrata, Se Mi Nieghi'/Aria: 'Fra L'Ombre E Gl'Orrori' - David Thomas
  13. Recit.: 'Ma Che?'/'Aria: Que L'Augel' - Emma Kirkby
  14. Recit.: 'Giunsi Al Fin Mio Tesoro'/Aria: 'Se M'Ami, Oh Caro' - Carolyn Watkinson
Music CD 2
  1. Recit.: 'Qui Su L'Alto Del Monte'/(A3): 'Dolce Amico' - Emma Kirkby/Carolyn Watkinson/David Thomas
  2. Recit.: 'Or Poiche Sordi Sono/'Gia Va Da Balza In Balza' - David Thomas
  3. Recit. & Aria: 'Oh Dio, Mio Ben, Soccorso!' - Emma Kirkby
  4. Recit.: 'Misera, E Dove Sono?'/'Impara, Ingrata' - David Thomas
  5. Recit.: 'Ah Tiranno, Inumano!'/Aria: 'Del Mar Fra L'Onde' - Carolyn Watkinson
  6. Recit.: 'Ferma! Ma Gia Nel Mare' - London Baroque/Charles Medlam
  7. Aria (A3): 'Chi Ben Ama Ha Per Oggetti' - Emma Kirkby/Carolyn Watkinson/David Thomas
  8. Son in F, Op.1 No.11: Larghetto/Allegro/Siciliana/Allegro - Michel Piguet/Charles Medlam/John Toll
  9. Son in C, Op.1 No.7: Larghetto/Allegro/Larghetto/A Tempo Di Gavotti/Allegro - Michel Piguet/Charles Medlam/John Toll
  10. Son in G Transposse in F: Allegro/Adagio/Allegro - Michel Piguet/Charles Medlam/John Toll

Music reviews of Handel - Aci, Galatea e Polifemo / Kirkby · Watkinson · D. Thomas · London Baroque · Medlam

Music Review: Delectable Early Handel - A Must for Kirkby Fans ... Choose This over the Haïm Recording
Rating: 5 Stars

This is not the English masque _Acis and Galathea_ but an earlier effort on the same story composed during the composer's youthful tour of Italy, described as a "serenade for three voices." It is deliciously scored, a perfect gem. All the parts work well--duets, ensembles, solos, and recitatives. It doesn't hold the stature of his later oratorio and operatic output, but it deserves equal renown for its pleasures are indisputable. With such refined yet expressive singing, you won't be disappointed to hear, in earlier guises, passages more familiar from Rinaldo and elsewhere.

Curiously, the higher of the women's parts is the "trousers" role here, and this is one of my all-time favorite performances from Emma Kirkby. More curiously still, Watkinson sometimes sounds countertenorish in the female role of Galatea. David Thomas tackles the role of the monstrous Polfemo and is utterly secure with all the fiendish coloratura and rock-bottom low notes! (There is some added resonance, but it doesn't detract and it doesn't blur his technique in the least.)

The opening duet between Aci and Galatea, "Sorge il Di," is one of those impossibly delectable blending of women's voices that just lather you up in a bath of sensuous sound. There is a solo ("Que l'augel") where Kirkby's voice and oboe echo each other so perfectly that you can't tell where one begins and the other leaves off. Watkinson's solo at the end of disk 1, "Se m'ami, o caro," is plangent with heartache. The piece continues onto the second disk with Kirkby delivering one of my favorite of all death scenes on track 3, with her da capo restatement so subtly embellished, and such telling vibrato on the word "palpita" ("beats" [my heart]) that, if you're as raptly attentive as I was, it takes your breath away. The Polifemo parts could easily sound uniformly blustery, but David Thomas actually manages to give the character emotional and vocal shading! The "serenade" concludes with something of a "curtain call" number where the three soloists (including the lamented Aci) reprise the moral of the story jubilantly! In the economy of scale, melodic invention, deployment of voices, and unusual place in the composers' output, it is somewhat reminiscent of Bach's Coffee Cantata.

The sound is perfectly judged and the instrumentalists flawlessly characterful and supportive. The second disk is rounded out with three recorder (flute à bec) sonatas that are delivered with sinuous elegance and infectious panache.

This recording is far more elegant and cohesive than the more recent and much-lauded Emmanuelle Haïm recording. Haïm has interesting things to say and elicits exciting sounds from her instrumentalists, but I have yet to hear a recording of hers that makes a convincing case for her vocal choices. This recording is much better, and one should not be swayed by the more recent vintage of the Haïm.
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