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SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL REVIEW
Galatea – Dominique Labelle
Acis – Christoph Prégardien
Polyphemus – Wolf Matthias Friedrich
Damon/Coridon – Michael Slattery
In this their anniversary year Handel and Mendelssohn have featured heavily in programmes for pretty much any classical music organisation. Here, in a clever piece of programming, the Edinburgh International Festival manages to celebrate both in one night, giving what is probably the British premiere of Mendelssohn’s version of Acis and Galatea (there were preparations for a British performance in the 1860s but we don’t know for sure whether it actually took place). Like their production of Admeto this is the result of a collaboration with the Göttingen Handel Festival, but happily this performance was much more wholly satisfying.
Acis was Handel’s most popular work in his own lifetime, with more than 100 performances recorded, and its mix of a simple story and hugely appealing music makes it easy to love. There are debates enough about which of Handel’s own versions to play before you even consider those made by other composers and arrangers, including Mozart. The Festival have done us a huge service by introducing us to Mendelssohn’s version. The 20-year old Mendelssohn made it in 1829 at the request of his teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter as a condition for Zelter’s Singakademie singing in Mendelssohn’s proposed performance of the
St Matthew Passion. Interestingly, while Mendelssohn prepared this
version there is no evidence that he actually performed it. The charm and
bucolic brilliance of Handel’s score is all there, but the orchestration and
arrangement are fully Mendelssohn’s and whichever version of Acis
you know this one is sure to blow off the
cobwebs and open your ears.
So what is actually different? Well unsurprisingly the orchestral (and
choral) forces required are much larger and Mendelssohn calls for entirely
new instruments, most notably trumpets and timpani, together with a full
complement of woodwinds and horns. The heavier textures lend the work much
more power, rendering it
full-bloodedly Romantic in places. This is immediately apparent from the
opening Sinfonia
which sounds martial and arresting where
Handel’s is “merely” charming. There are obvious gains and losses to this
approach: the transparency of the original score is lost and the busyness of
the quick passages tends to be swamped under the weight of the scoring.
Sometimes the music can feel a little clogged too, such as in the semiquaver
passages for the chorus which feel lumpy and congested in comparison with
Handel’s, most especially the fugato section on “Behold the monster
Polypheme”. There is also some inevitable loss of intimacy, such as the
lovely cadence in the ritornello of Galatea’s opening aria, which is given
to the violin section instead of Handel’s solo recorder, thereby sounding
grander. However if you can live with this then there is tremendous fun to
be had and some really insightful touches. The clarinet line in “Love in her
eyes sits playing” adds a whole new dimension to what is already one of
Handel’s very loveliest arias and the contrabassoon lends a lot of extra
colour to Polyphemus’ “ruddier than the cherry”. The addition of the
trumpets and drums means that “Happy, happy we” rollicks along like a chorus
of drunken peasants and provides a really storming climax to Act 1, while
the larger orchestra and very obvious drum rolls make Acis’ death far more
dramatic. Conversely, the gentle woodwinds mean that Acis has a most
alluring purl when he is turned into the fountain in “Heart, the seat of
soft delight”. While it is fun picking out the differences and listening for
the new effects, Mendelssohn’s scoring never detracts from the fact that
this is quite wonderful music and my faith in it was only reinforced by the
success with which it supports his new instrumentation.
The standout vocal performance was
Wolf Matthias Friedrich’s Polyphemus. He
made a huge impression on me during
Admeto
and his characterful voice was perfect for
the ridiculous yet lethal giant. Dominique Labelle’s Galatea was bright and
clear, providing lots of Baroque transparency against the orchestration, and
she was very moving in the final sequence. Christoph Prégardien sang with
beautiful lyricism for his gorgeous arias in Act 1, though he had trouble
coping with the bravura of “Love sounds th’alarm” where his accuracy
slipped. Michael Slattery improved as the evening went on but was nothing
special, struggling up to the top notes in his first aria.
The augmented Göttingen orchestra
were just fantastic, relishing the opportunity to play this marvellous
score. McGegan was in Homogenous Handel mode again (the slow passages were
taken too quickly and the fast bits were taken too slowly), as with
Admeto, but with such a gorgeously
unique performance I could forgive almost anything.
Regardless of the merits of the version I sat through the whole evening with a broad smile on my face. Musically beautiful, this was the most fun night I’ve had all Festival.
The Edinburgh International Festival runs until Sunday 6th
September at venues across the city. For
full details go to www.eif.co.uk
Simon Thompson
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