Handel: Agrippina – review

Pendatchanska/Rivera/Mehta/Fink/Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin/Jacobs(Harmonia Mundi, 3CDs, 1 DVD)René Jacobs's recording of Handel's great examination of maternal ambition and governmental sleaze derives from a 2009 Berlin production. Jacobs courts controversy by presenting an edition based on Handel's first autograph score rather than the familiar revision performed at the premiere. However, his belief that the former is tauter dramatically doesn't always convince. Awkwardly, the last act n...

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