John Butt, with the Dunedin Consort and Players, offers the delectable and evergreen Acis and Galatea in the original Cannons performing version of 1718 on Handel: Acis and Galatea (Linn CKD 319, rec 2008, 95′). Handel served James Brydges, Earl of Carnarvon, for only a short time in 1717–18, from which period date the so-called ‘Chandos’ anthems (more properly the ‘Cannons’ anthems since Brydges did not become the Duke of Chandos until 1719) and Acis and Galatea. The earliest version of Esther also dates from about then. Handel evidently enjoyed the services of a fine group of professional musicians who were nevertheless unusually disposed: five singers—a soprano, a bass, three tenors but no alto—and an ensemble of three (occasionally four) violins, no violas, two cellos and a bass, plus two oboes and a bassoon. Acknowledging the research of Graydon Beeks, Anthony Hicks and others, Butt shows that the 1718 version of the work was scored for precisely these resources. The five-part ‘chorus’ comprises the five soloists: Galatea (soprano), Acis, Damon and Coridon (tenors) and Polyphemus (bass). Later versions of the piece assign Coridon's air ‘Would you gain the tender creature’ to Damon, upsetting the original intention that Damon is advisor to Acis and Coridon to Polyphemus. The two oboists would have doubled on recorders, and the piece would have been directed from the harpsichord, probably by Pepusch, Brydges's Master of Musick, or conceivably by Handel himself. Butt re-creates this set-up exactly (save for two recorder players in addition to the oboists) and the result is fresh, vigorous and captivating. They use the 1991 Hallische-Händel Ausgabe score, but include a bassoon which the HHA editor assigns only to Handel's later performances; the extent of the bassoon's role is unclear, however, and so the performers have had to make informed decisions here. Butt's liner notes, as one would expect, are a model of lucid, informative scholarship.