Admeto

Great music and fine singing can't overcome horrible staging in this production of Admeto, one of the magnificent but largely forgotten operas that George Frideric Handel composed for the Royal Academy of Music in the 1720s. Like Gluck's Alceste, Admeto is also based on Euripides' tragedy Alcestis—the story of a queen who agrees to die in place of her husband, though Hercules rescues them both from the underworld—but Handel's libretto adds ungainly romantic subplots. Still, the composer's contribution easily transcends the lumpish narrative, and in musical terms this 2006 mounting from the Halle Handel Festival is fetching: the small but skillful original-instrument orchestra gives a light, ebullient reading of the score under the fluent direction of Howard Arman, while the vocals are strong and flexible across the board. Unfortunately, the physical production is Eurotrash at its worst, sporting hideous modernistic sets and costumes in the first two acts and a fountain that turns on and off at center stage without explanation (things improve during the third act with a sleekly simple setting and more elegant garb, but the damage is already beyond repair). Perhaps to make up for the assault on the eyes, this release includes two audio CDs containing highlights from the work, although anyone desiring a purely aural experience would be better served by Alan Curtis' complete 1977 recording on the Virgin label. Admeto is admittedly a rarity (no DVD alternative exists), but even so this is at best an optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)