Haendel ( "Acis & Galatea" )

Handel's "Acis & Galatea" (Joan Sutherland, Peter Pears, Owen Brannigan & David Galliver) - Nº 1

While my two votings are still going on, I decided that I should do something new. Each two months I'm going to put out a whole opera on Youtube. The opera of this month (actually, two months) is Handel's gentle Acis and Galatea. A quite short work, Acis and Galatea still has quite a bit of wonderful music: for example, Galatea's "Hush, ye pretty warbling" and "As when the dove laments her love", Polyphemus's "O ruddier than the cherry" and the duet for two lovers "Happy we". I do hope that you enjoy this beautiful pastoral opera (comments are required). There are many versions to choose from, but my favorite one is the Adrian Boult 1960 recording. Although it isn't terribly authentic (some repetitions are just skipped, there aren't any variations), Adrian Boult leads a very commpassionate recording, the soloists (Joan Sutherland, Peter Pears and Owen Brannigan) are top-notch; actually, everything is absolutely right. The first part includes:
1. Ouverture;
2. No. 1 - Chorus: "Oh the pleasure of the the plains