Handel Suggestions

[ritter]

@Kakucha . Welcome to the forum.

We look forward to your contributions to this and other threads, but insist that resurrecting a discussion that has been dormant for nine years —and whose OP has been absent from GMG for years— adds no value to the forum.

[DavidW]

DavidW
This is a forum. The thread is not closed. So anyone can have their say here, can't they?

Nope.  All members must abide by the forum guidelines.  Every online community has something like this.  Please read it here

[Karl Henning]

The Keyboard Suites were my most recent Handel passion.

[Jo498]

Nope.  All members must abide by the forum guidelines.  Every online community has something like this.  Please read it here

But AFAIS "necroing" an old thread is not against any guidelines, is it? So he was perfectly correct in saying that anyone could post in response to an old thead, wasn't he?

[Elgarian Redux]

And I am more enamoured than ever with Handel's early cantatas. There are so many recordings now available that you can't really go wrong. There's the magnificent Glossa series, of which this is an example:



Or the superb set with the delicious Maria Zadori:



Or in the bargain basement there's this boxful of CDs. The performances may not all be the very ultimate in splendidness, but they are very, very listenable:

[Florestan]

The Bonizzoni/Glossa set is a peach.

[Jo498]

I remember that about 20 years ago I discovered the early cantatas in the Brilliant edition of the Zadori set. I was really amazed by this music whose existence had been unknown to me before, and I am happy that it has become better known and received more good recordings.
Everyone who struggles to muster the patience for 3 hour baroque operas with complicated plots should try these ~15-25 min cantatas that are often like (solo) scenes taken from an opera, such as Hero bemoaning the drowned Leandro, or sometimes just lyrical reflection like "Tra le fiamme" or "Notte placida e cheta" (that has a little fugue for soprano and violins as last movement, IIRC)

But I think the most neglected body of work by Handel are the 11 Chandos/Cannons Anthems. Psalm settings of ca. 20-30 min for soloists and small ensemble that are really beautiful and far more varied and interesting IMO than the coronation anthems. There is only one complete recording on CD (cond. Christophers on Chandos) that is pretty good but it's a shame that there are only a few single discs as alternatives.

[Florestan]

Everyone who struggles to muster the patience for 3 hour baroque operas with complicated plots should try these ~15-25 min cantatas that are often like (solo) scenes taken from an opera, such as Hero bemoaning the drowned Leandro, or sometimes just lyrical reflection like "Tra le fiamme" or "Notte placida e cheta" (that has a little fugue for soprano and violins as last movement, IIRC)

Amen to that! 

[DavidW]

But AFAIS "necroing" an old thread is not against any guidelines, is it? So he was perfectly correct in saying that anyone could post in response to an old thead, wasn't he?

No of course it isn't against the guidelines.  It was attacking the posters and trying to start an argument with an ad hominem attack which is the issue.

[DavidW]

@Elgarian Redux have you ever listened to this recording?  I love it!

[Elgarian Redux]

@Elgarian Redux have you ever listened to this recording?  I love it!

I have a big box of Handel cantata sets - I've tended to buy recordings of them as if they were chocolates - but alas, your Emma Kirkby disc isn't in it. I do have this one however:



It's not a favourite though, I should say. While fully acknowledging her importance in this area, I find there's something about her singing in this recording that I don't feel comfortable with. This is NOT a criticism of her (that would be ridiculous - what do I know?), but an acknowledgment of a limitation in me. I've just been listening to 'Notte Placida' from this CD - it's one of my very favourite cantatas - and it somehow doesn't quite work for me. Something to do with an 'edge' in her voice, and certain 'swoops' in her manner of singing. I can't really pin it down. On that basis, (and only that) I've tended to favour other singers.

But I'm blithering, and the fact remains that I don't know the particular recording you love so much, and I see there's a big time gap involved: your recording is 1985, I think, whereas mine is 2008. That's a lot of time in the history of a soprano, and makes me wonder if my recording is coming too late. Alas, your recording only seems to be available on vinyl, and I don't have an LP player. So I'm a bit stuck at present.

..... but wait ..... I think you can now ignore all the above:

STOP PRESS!
1. I've now been able to listen to a few samples from your recording, and it sounds delightful. Like a different singer, actually.
2. So then, I looked on eBay, and found a copy on CD for just a few pounds. I clicked the money into the aether, and now await its arrival. I shall report back in due course - thanks very much for the tip-off, David.