Despite its Italian title, this is one of Handel's most essentially English works, an 'entertainment' set to John Milton's poems of contrasting tempers—mirth and melancholy—with a sententious summing up, urging moderation, by Charles Jennens. (The latter would have preferred Handel to embark earlier on his own biblical collections, a text that was soon to become Handel's most celebrated masterpiece, Messiah.)

L'allegro dates from 1740, but Handel tinkered with it for its few revivals, eventually dropping Jennens's Moderato. Until Mark Morris's joyous choreographed 1988 staging, the work was neglected, and this new release is the first to get as close as possible to the original version, with speculative orchestral additions: two of the Op 6 Concerti Grossi and the B flat Organ Concerto as introductions to each part. McCreesh's direction is both alert and expressive, and his soloists are very fine. Gillian Webster shines in Penseroso's famous nightingale aria, Sweet Bird, and in the only duet in which mirth and melancholy come together—the sublime As steals the morn, one of Handel's greatest hits.