Händel, where to start?

[Josquin des Prez]

Sometimes i wonder why i ever bother. By all means, go ahead and choke yourselves in mediocrity. It's the way of the future.

[Martin Lind]

I think many many people started with Handels Messiah. I have the old recording of Colin Davis and enjoy that very much. Theodora and Jephta is great music either. There was once a great box of Brilliant with Somary recordings, including the Theodara and other great stuff. I don't know wether this is still available. In Opus 6 ( Opus 3 also included which isn't bad either) the Brilliant recordings aren't that bad and certainly interesting but I prefer Hogwood. I have heard that the organ concerto box of Brilliant with Matt should be very good, but I can't say this from own experience. Avoid chamber music, I heard some things of it and didn't like it. I will not say it is bad, I simply say: I didn't like it.

Messiah, Jephta and Theodara are late works of Handel and Handel was it is peak. But start with the Messiah, many people love him. The only reservation would be that you don't like vocal music, then better start with the organ concertoes which are very nice. There are certainly other marvelous works like Acis and Galathea or Semele.

[Frellie]

Sometimes i wonder why i ever bother. By all means, go ahead and choke yourselves in mediocrity. It's the way of the future.

Haha. Choking in mediocrity is no more the way of the future than it is the way of the past.

Manze is by no means mediocre, though. Especially not when he's playing with Richard Egarr. Pinnock is indeed always a safe choice. Also when it comes to the symphonies of Mozart, by the way. Which would be a more sensible step from Beethoven, to be honest.

[edit] Play the Messiah until you love it, then play it some more until you adore it, en then some more... And be sure to buy/steal/download/borrow the performance by Paul McCreesh. (If not available or too expensive: try René Jacobs or Hogwood. Colin Davis is really outdated.)

[max]

Sometimes i wonder why i ever bother. By all means, go ahead and choke yourselves in mediocrity. It's the way of the future.

I agree! It's our mission to force genius to it's lowest common denominator - our ability to understand it!

[Mozart]

I've started listening to Handel recently, but I went to see Giulio Cesare like 2 years ago. I think it's a good place to start. I try to get into the operas, but I can't find the libretti anywhere much less the translations. There is always the oratorios, but the stories generally don't add anything to the experience and might even bore me into not listening to the wonderful music. Start with Giulio Cesare and then go to Alcina or Ariodante.

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/lq0243bSWto

[71 dB]

I've started listening to Handel recently

And you are already a HandelHooligan! 

[Mozart]

And you are already a HandelHooligan! 

Well it was either that or Handel'sHunmus, I like the first one better.

[71 dB]

Well it was either that or Handel'sHunmus, I like the first one better.

Why not HändelNewbie? 

[Mozart]

Why not HändelNewbie? 

Because that is not nearly as creative, is it?

[Mozart]

Man I had been obsessed with this Handel aria recently from the opera Agrippina. And I realized today it was because I knew it from an earlier work. I'm sure this will be the first of many times this happens.

E un foco quel d'amore
che penetra nel core
ma come? non si sa.
S'accende a poco a poco
ma poi non trova loco
e consumar ti fa