The Cambridge production... in taste and style easily surpassed recent efforts by professional companies... it allowed full play to Handel’s genius, for which the conductor and translator Andrew Jones and the producer Jean Chothia deserve high credit, and the opera emerged as a coherent drama. It was performed uncut in attractive costumes of Handel’s day, with a practical set that allowed quick scene changes and a sensible approach to the acting style and gestures of the period. A blessed freedom from extraneous activity focussed attention on the music (and, as in Handel’s day, there was enough light in the auditorium for recourse to the programme or the score). Musically too the performance carried conviction, with springy playing from the orchestra, flexible recitative and happy vocal decoration in the da capos.
The Musical Times, July 1987
