This year’s London Handel festival got off to a rousing start with new artistic adviser Jonathan Cohen at the helm of Arcangelo, the crack baroque ensemble he founded back in 2010. On the bill was the colourful pastoral L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, in which wit and jollity look set to gain the upper hand before Handel decides to put a dampener on things by insisting on moderation in everything.
Faced with a shortage of Italian singers in 1740, the composer went full English, laying aside ideas for Messiah “to please the Town with something of a gayer Turn.” His librettist, James Harris, interwove Milton’s poem L’Allegro (The Happy Man) with the contrasting Il Penseroso (The Melancholy Man), before adding a codicil at the composer’s request in the form of Il Moderato (The Moderate Man). The result, which ends with a paraphrase on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, may feel a bit of a mashup, but it provided Handel with irresistible opportunities for turning vivid imagery into equally vivid music. Remarkably, he knocked the whole thing out in just 14 days.
Cohen seized upon the score with relish, his keen dramatic instincts ensuring bright tempi while knowing just when to give his singers room to spread their wings. Arcangelo, their plush sound underpinned by chamber organ and two harpsichords, responded with crisp, spirited playing and noteworthy solo contributions. The incisive, 18-strong choir sang with imposing power.
Three singers represented L’Allegro, led by Stuart Jackson whose fluid tenor, expressive diction and theatrical nous really brought Handel’s multihued music to life. Haste Thee, Nymph with its infectious laughter was a hoot, and he brought an egotistical swagger to I’ll to the Well-trod Stage Anon. Paulina Francisco’s vivacious soprano was a ray of sunshine, with Adam Plachetka’s boisterous baritone offering insistent, though slightly dour support.
As Il Penseroso, Rachel Nicholls, a late replacement for Louise Alder, faced challenges with muddy diction and the voice not always ideally steady. But the night belonged to Cohen. With Arcangelo lighting up the baroque interior of St George’s Hanover Square, Handel’s own parish church, you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.
• The London Handel festival continues in various venues, until 10 April
