George Frideric Handel - Acis and Galatea - Dunedin Consort - REUPLOAD

- Baroque Vocal category finalist - 2009 Classic FM Gramophone Awards
- CD of the Month - Gramophone Magazine January 2009
- Opus d'Or Award

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The Dunedin Consort, having scored such a big hit with Handel's Messiah ("Best Baroque Vocal Album" 2007), now heads into 2009 with what is an even better version of the same composer's Acis and Galatea. The scholarly approach continues and here John Butt's forces shrink to perform the masque exactly as it was given at its premiere at the Early of Carnaervon's country house at Cannons, Edgeware, in 1718. The ensemble is nigh perfect - not only is every word of Alexander Pope's and John Gay's text crystal clear and tuning immaculate, but the freshness with which they sing radiates joy throughout the entire score. ~ Classic FM Magazine, Rick Jones If you thought that we were unlikely to have any new Handel recordings to challenge existing recommendations, this new account of Acis and Galatea should make you think again. My former version of choice for Acis, the King's Consort, on Hyperion CDA66361/2, now becomes an honourable also-ran and has already found a new home. I obtained the new Acis via a download from Linn's website and my original intention was simply to include it in my January 2009 Download Roundup. Two considerations persuaded me otherwise: it's too good just to receive a paragraph in a roundup which some of you may not yet have discovered - scroll down the page, past the concert reviews, to find it each month - and, as I downloaded it in CD-quality sound, it's fully comparable with the published article. In fact, like other recent Linn recordings, it can even be obtained in better-than-CD quality as a 24-bit studio-quality download. This involves downloading a very large file and listening to the result other than via CD - the file is too large to burn to CD - and I'm perfectly happy with the quality of both Linn's wma and flac 16-bit files. One other user-friendly aspect of Linn's website is that it never seems to suffer from traffic congestion - whatever your broadband speed, some sites will download only at about 50k when they are busy; Acis downloaded at over 800k. Acis and Galatea was originally performed at Cannons, the home of the Earl of Caernarvon, later Duke of Chandos, for whose chapel Handel also composed the Chandos Anthems. The grand house is long gone but the chapel is still there, serving as the parish church, and its baroque splendours indicate how grand the house must have been. Grand though the house was, this first version of Acis was composed on a small scale, which makes it well suited to recording. William Christie (Erato 3984-25505-2, also part of a budget-price 6-CD collection on 2564-695641) has already offered us a chamber-sized performance of the later version, HWV49b, but this is the first attempt to reproduce the original and it is wholly successful. An inexpensive version on Brilliant Classics claimed to employ the original version, but actually uses larger forces - see Robert Hugill's unenthusiastic review. John Butt's superb scholarship would have gone for naught if the end result had not been so convincing, with all concerned giving of their best. The Dunedin Consort and Players repeat the success of their earlier award-winning Messiah and St Matthew Passion. Right from the opening Sinfonia the orchestral playing is a delight - always the right ‘size' to match the smaller vocal forces. ~ 05 January 2009 - MusicWeb International - Brian Wilson

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Track Listings

Disc 1 – Act one
1. Sinfonia 3:12
2. Chorus: Oh, the pleasure of the plains! 6:13
3. Accompagnato: Ye verdant plains & woody mountains (Galatea) 0:45
4. Air: Hush, ye pretty warbling choir! (Galatea) 6:17
5. Air: Where shall I seek the charming fair? (Acis) 3:05
6. Recitative: Stay, shepherd, stay! (Damon) 0:22
7. Air: Shepherd, what art thou pursuing? (Damon) 4:10
8. Recitative: Lo, here my love (Acis) 0:30
9. Air: Love in her eyes sits playing (Acis) 6:51
10. Recitative: Oh didst thou know the pains of absent love (Galatea) 0:16
11. Air: As when the dove laments her love (Galatea) 6:57
12. Duet: Happy, happy we! (Acis & Galatea) 2:35

Disc 2 – Act two
1. Chorus: Wretched lovers! 4:25
2. Accompagnato: I rage - I melt - I burn! (Polyphemus) 1:27
3. Air: O ruddier than the cherry (Polyphemus) 3:16
4. Recitative: Whither, fairest, art thou running (Polyphemus, Galatea) 1:11
5. Air: Cease to beauty to be suing (Polyphemus) 5:24
6. Would you gain the tender creature (Coridon) 5:42
7. Recitative: His hideous love provokes my rage (Acis) 0:21
8. Air: Love sounds th' alarm 4:50
9. Air: Consider, fond shepherd 6:41
10. Recitative: Cease, oh cease, thou gentle youth 0:25
11. Trio: The flocks shall leave the mountains (Galatea, Acis, Polyphemus) 3:03 12. Accompagnato: Help, Galatea! Help, ye parent gods! (Acis) 1:30
13. Chorus: Mourn, all ye muses 3:43
14. Solo & Chorus: Must I Acis still bemoan (Galatea) 4:14
15. Recitative: 'Tis done! Thus I exert my pow'r divine (Galatea) 0:19
16. Air: Heart, the seat of soft delight (Galatea) 4:02
17. Chorus: Galatea, dry thy tears 3:18



Product Details
Composer: George Frideric Handel
Orchestra: Dunedin Consort & Players
Conductor: John Butt
Susan Hamilton (Galatea)
Nicholas Mulroy (Acis)
Thomas Hobbs (Damon)
Nicholas Hurndall Smith (Coridon)
Matthew Brook (Polyphemus)
Audio CD (October 27, 2008)
Please Note: Requires SACD-compatible hardware
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 2
Format: Super Audio CD - DSD, Import
Label: Linn Records
ASIN: B001HWU3ZC

Download link
Pass: Dunedin

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