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Reviewer: David Vickers This recording of a staged production at Piacenza in October 2020 claims to be a ‘reconstruction and critical edition’ of a ‘Version for Senesino (London, after 1718)’, but this is nonsensical fiction. In truth, the bungled performing edition is an unholy mess, and matters are worsened by booklet notes packed with startling inaccuracies. To put the record straight, in June 1732 Handel performed a hybrid bilingual version of Acis and Galatea at the King’s Theatre – taking elements of an English masque originally for Cannons (1718) mingled with material adapted from the entirely different earlier score of an Italian serenata (Naples, 1708) in order to accommodate singers uncomfortable singing in English. For a cast of seven characters and separate chorus in 1732, some Neapolitan arias were not merely transposed but recomposed, Italian parody texts were fitted to several of the Cannons English numbers, and some brand-new music was added. Throughout the 1730s the malleable content of this polyglot entertainment shifted according to circumstances until Handel was eventually able to restore an-all English version largely identical to the 1718 masque. In a nutshell, the Piacenza production is generally the 1708 Naples serenata. However, Aci is transposed down from soprano to alto range for countertenor Raffaele Pe, who sings some (not all) of the 1732 revisions for Senesino. Galatea’s 1708 arias are transposed up from alto for mezzo-soprano Giuseppina Bridelli. Ensembles taken from the Naples serenata tend to have Pe singing Galatea’s part and words, whereas Bridelli takes Aci’s lines (audible reallocations not spotted by whoever prepared Glossa’s libretto), although Handel’s disposition of voices is observed correctly in ‘Delfin vivrà sul monte’ (the 1732 Italian parody of the Cannons trio ‘The flocks shall leave the mountains’). To make confused matters even less lucid, Polifemo’s accompanied recitative ‘Mi palpita il cor’ (adapted from a Roman cantata) and rage aria ‘Affano tiranno’ are inserted as an opening scene; it is not explained that these were added (not in this position) by Handel for the 1736 revival at Covent Garden. A sensible and honest argument could have been made instead that sometimes musicians may take pragmatic liberties to choose whatever sort of pick-and-mix composite version suits their needs in order to make a performance possible. From such a point of view, the Piacenza production has its own kind of interior artistic coherence. Intrusive harp continuo is an unhistorical anachronism, and simple recitatives might have flowed more naturally, but on the whole La Lira di Orfeo deliver brightly vigorous playing under the direction of harpsichordist Luca Guglielmi. Pe’s singing has focused elegance in ‘Lontan da te mio cor non sa’ (the 1732 Italian parody of ‘Where shall I seek the charming fair?’) and indignant virtuosity in ‘Dell’aquila l’artigli’ (accompanied superbly by Guglielmi). The recomposed setting of Aci’s love song ‘Qui l’augel da pianta in pianta’ is a touch more concise than the 1708 original, its sprawling oboe obbligato replaced in 1732 by a new part for flute that partners the voice with pastoral delicacy. Handel also reworked voice and string parts in the shepherd’s tragic death scene ‘Verso già l’alma col sangue’, performed here with telling sensitivity. Bridelli excels in Galatea’s plaintive ‘Sforzano a piangere’ (plucked continuo is over-active but oboist Nicola Barbagli plays soulfully), the skittish ‘Benché tuoni e l’etra avvampi’ (extrovert coloratura dispatched with pinpoint precision) and the furious outburst after Aci’s murder in ‘Del mar fra l’onde’. Andrea Mastroni roars aptly in Polifemo’s ‘Affano tiranno’, there is grotesque clumsiness without much humour in ‘Ferito son d’amore’ (an Italian parody of ‘O ruddier than the cherry’), and melancholic yearning is not obstructed by freakishly wide vocal leaps across two and a half octaves in ‘Fra l’ombre e gli orrori’ (not used by Handel in 1732, and rescored here inexplicably for only strings without recorder). Notwithstanding flaws in conception, this is an intriguing opportunity to hear some of Handel’s 1730s alternative numbers recorded for the first time. |
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