What kind of an animal is Handel’s Hercules? The premiere at King’s Theatre in London in 1745 was presented in oratorio form and flopped hard. In an early-20th-century revival with full operatic trappings, the score impressed cognoscenti as one of the supreme masterpieces of its time. After last year’s acclaimed tour with Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Harry Bicket and the English Consort offer American Handelians another chance to assess Hercules au naturel. William Guanbo Su lends his rock-solid, pitch-black bass to the part of the hero. The soprano Hilary Cronin sings Iole, the princess he brings home from his wanderings, much to the distress of his wife Dejanira, the mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg, who has a cloak dipped in centaur’s blood on hand for just such an eventuality. —Matthew Gurewitsch