Milton’s pair of poems characterising the polarised opposites of Mirth (‘L’Allegro’) and Melancholy (‘Il Penseroso’) were identified as a subject suitable for musical entertainment by Handel’s friend, the philosopher James Harris, who drafted a libretto that was refined by Charles Jennens into an astutely paced dialogue between personifications of Mirth and Melancholy battling it out for aesthetic and moral supremacy. To provide a unifying conclusion, Jennens wrote ‘Il Moderato’, in which the sparring opponents are reconciled in the sublime duet ‘As steals the morn’ (adapted from a speech by Prospero in The Tempest). The ode has a respectable discography but not even the most prestigious versions hitherto captured the full breadth of Handel’s roller coaster through introspective musings and extrovert jolliness, resolving into amicable moderation whereby fun and studiousness can coexist. Peter Neumann presents a complete uncut text and also incorporates several numbers Handel added to the 1741 revival. I suspect the original 1740 version flows more smoothly as an allegorical quarrel without the hindrances of the lovely additional songs but the ode’s deliberately paradoxical elements flourish in Neumann’s judicious performance. The Cologne Chamber Choir’s English pronunciation is flawless and there isn’t a whiff of rent-a-chorus freelancers on auto-pilot that sometimes hinders the best British groups; Neumann’s choir is exemplary at phrasing, textures and diction – whether describing the ‘busy hum of men’ or tired revellers being lulled asleep. Collegium Cartusianum’s playing has a sure sense of colour in this most kaleidoscopic of Handel’s mature scores: there are masterly contributions from trumpets and timpani, solo horn and rippling carillon in music for L’Allegro, and flute, cello and organ in serenely gorgeous passages for Penseroso. The soloists are excellent vocally and stylistically, and deliver Milton’s poetry with sympathetic sweetness: the clean-voiced Maria Keohane is a routinely lovely Penseroso (the middle section of ‘Sweet bird’ when she ecstatically describes walking ‘unseen…to behold the wand’ring moon’ is breathtaking), whereas Julia Doyle’s affectionate lightness, Benjamin Hulett’s amiable mellifluousness and Andreas Wolf’s outgoing proclamations form a perfect trio of L’Allegro voices. Whether generating the giddy excitement of ‘populous cities’ or extolling the pleasure of ‘calm, peace and quiet’, evoking hunting hounds and horn ‘echoing shrill’ or venerating the studious cloisters and ‘pealing organ’ of an ancient cathedral, Neumann achieves the most consistently convincing all-round interpretation of Handel’s delectable ode yet recorded.