CPO's previous release with the soloists and ensembles of the Boston Early Music Festival was awarded two prestigious prizes. The recording of Charpentier's opera La Descente d'OrphÃ©e aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs received the Grammy Award for the Best Opera Production in February 2015 and recently won the Klassik-Echo 2015, again for the Best Opera Recording of the Year. Prior to this double success, other productions by cpo and BEMF had been nominated for Gramophone Awards. In the category of the Best Opera Production these were Ariadne by Johann Georg Conradi and ThÃ©sÃ©e and PsychÃ© by Jean-Baptiste Lully. In addition, ThÃ©sÃ©e and PsychÃ© received nominations in the category honoring Baroque Vocal Works. Now the American ensemble has joined forces with successful soloists like Aaron Sheehan and Teresa Wakim for our production of Handel's opera Acis and Galatea in the version of 1718, which was composed for the landed estate of the Earl of Carnarvon and does not recycle music from the earlier version. Both Acis and Galatea and the cantata Sarei troppo felice heard here represent decisive turning points in Handel's career. The Italian cantata came at the beginning of the one and half decades spent by Handel in the service of various patrons. Acis and Galatea marks the highpoint of this phase and therefore, like the cantata before it, clearly renders recognizable the musical means available to him in the private ensembles of his employers. Moreover, Acis and Galatea contains the musical and textual seeds of the English oratorio, which after 1742 completely supplanted opera compositions.

Tracklist:

Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Sinfonia
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Oh, The Pleasures Of The Plain (Chorus)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Accompagnato: Ye Verdant Plains (Galatea)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Aria: Hush, Ye Pretty Warbling Quire (Galatea)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Aria: Where Shall I Seek The Charming Fair (Acis)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Recitative: Stay, Shepherd, Stay (Damon)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Aria: Shepherd, What Art Thou Pursuing (Damon)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Recitative: Lo! Here My Love (Acis)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Aria: Love In Her Eyes Sits Playing (Acis)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Recitative: Oh! Didst Thou Know The Pains Of Absent Love (Galatea)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Aria: As When The Dove (Galatea)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act I: Act I: Duet: Happy We! (Acis, Galatea)
Act II: Wretched Lovers (Chorus)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Accompagnato: I Rage! (Polyphemus)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Aria: O Ruddier Than The Cherry (Polyphemus)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Recitative: Whither, Fairest, Art Thou Running (Polyphemus, Galatea)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Aria: Cease To Beauty To Be Suing (Polyphemus)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Aria: Would You Gain The Tender Creature (Coridon)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Recitative: His Hideous Love (Acis)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Aria: Love Sounds Th'alarm (Acis)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Aria: Consider, Fond Shepherd (Damon)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Recitative: Cease, Oh Cease, Thou Gentle Youth (Galatea)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Trio: The Flocks Shall Leave (Galatea, Acis, Polyphemus)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Accompagnato: Help, Galatea (Acis)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Mourn, All Ye Muses (Chorus)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Aria: Must I My Acis Still Bemoan (Galatea, Chorus)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Recitative: 'tis Done (Galatea)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Aria: Heart, The Seat Of Soft Delight (Galatea)
Acis And Galatea, Hwv 49, Act II: Act II: Galatea, Dry Thy Tears (Chorus)
Sarei Troppo Felice, Hwv 157: Sarei Troppo Felice
Sarei Troppo Felice, Hwv 157: Se Al Pensier Dar Mai Potro
Sarei Troppo Felice, Hwv 157: Clori, Schernita Clori
Sarei Troppo Felice, Hwv 157: Giusto Ciel Se Non Ho Sorte
Sarei Troppo Felice, Hwv 157: Ah! Che Un Cieco Ho Per Guida

UPC: 761203787722
Label: Cpo Records
Release Date: 1.8.16
Format: CD

Handel / Wakim / Boston Early Music Festival Vocal - Handel: Acis & Galatea (2 CD)