By Andrew Clark [Financial Times, 6 February 2007]
It is salutary to be reminded, in the context of English National Operaís Agrippina, that Handel completed it in three weeks and based all but five of almost 50 vocal movements on earlier material. Three centuries ago composers were not so fussy. After doing the rounds of Italy ñ Agrippina was the second and last opera he wrote there ñ Handel never revived it. And yet to hear the music on Monday, especially the introspective arias and vocal fireworks, was to be confronted with genius.