Handel...The Harmonious Blacksmith Of Music

[Spenserian]

Even Ellen T. Harris, the Handel scholar, recommends that recording in her biography of Handel (subtitled A Life with Friends). Apparently it's the recording she uses and listens to. There are some other recordings I supplement with, especially for variety. There is that of Jeremy Joseph, Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie, to be noted for their use of a larger orchestra and organ. If you want a nice pre-HIP performance, Marriner with Malcolm and the academy of St. Martin is always reliable. Koopman and Preston (with Pinnock) are HIP alternatives. I also have an old disc of Rifkin with the concertgebouw chamber orchestra, because a fanfare magazine reviewer preferred it.

I think Handel promises endless riches, and I recently decided to get into them. I bought Winton Dean's famous book about Handel's oratorios (and masques), then printed the libretto for each, because reading for over 3 hours from each from a CD-sized booklet didn't sound great. They fill two huge maps, and I had to go out to buy more paper... twice. I'm grateful for the availablity of books containing texts (and translations) of other major composers of vocal music, such as Bach and Schubert, so it was a surprise to find none available for Handel. I wonder if these kinds of practical considerations stop others from digging in. His output is so massive and overwhelming. Just started Jane Glover's book Handel in London too.

[Jo498]

The Glover book is quite good, I read it last year, I think. It has a nice balance between musical and biographical content.

[Spenserian]

Read in a day or 3 at rapid speed, it's really delightful and fun. I didn't much stop to listen to the works as I normally would with a book like this, because of the sheer quantity and length, but I am very interested now in the operas as well. I was looking at blu-rays of Handel operas, and does anybody have versions there they recommend? I am particularly interested musically, the production being lesser or silly or oversexualized or what not doesn't matter to me as much.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

I thought I would make a post here as it's been nearly two years since the last one: I have to say I'm enjoying Handel's music immensely.

Currently going through this OOP set:



The Marriner set of orchestral/vocal works has also been hugely enjoyable. Can't wait to get all of those Trevor Pinnock recordings I bought not too long ago, though, as I think I may prefer his Handel to Marriner, so we'll see.

Anyway, a tremendous composer that I have ignored for far too long, but as the old adage goes: "Better late than never."

[DavidW]

Currently going through this OOP set:

I don't mean to be rude, but I see you do this all the time. It is in poor taste to brag about having something rare. And it is unnecessary. You don't need to stress that something is out of print. It truly is irrelevant to your impressions of a recording.

But also, you're not considering the audience that streams or downloads. The distinction of being out of print or not is usually not relevant to us, because it is readily available. For example, I can immediately listen to McCreesh's recordings of Messiah, Saul, Theodora, and Solomon. And I do get that for you, it must irritate you when one of us talks about a recording that you don't own and can't easily acquire. But I assure you that we only do that out of ignorance.

[ChamberNut]

I'm not trying to defend @Der lächelnde Schatten , but I've never taken offense to the mentioning of his having something that is OOP, nor have thought of it as bragging.

It's never crossed my mind and never thought about it in this manner.

FWIW.

[Jo498]

It's a ridiculous charge to think of the remark that something is OOP as "bragging". It's simply true and a worthwhile information so that the people who still buy big boxes don't get excited at an affordable and convenient big box when it's not available anymore.

As it happens, I went through a bunch of Handel recordings in the last few weeks, the op.3 concerti, some of the organ concerti and slowly starting with op.6.

For op.3 surprisingly the Harnoncourt that I remembered as a bit rough and not as good as his op.6 adn organ concerti was my favorite. Next Minkowski that I had already singled out for culling. Minkowski has as unique oddity that recorder, flute and oboe share solo duties in #3 (usually it's oboe or flute, I much prefer oboe)

On modern instruments, there's not much between Marriner and Leppard, I slightly prefer the latter although he also has an interesting choice, namely he transfers one of the two concluding dance movements from #2 to #1! so that the latter ends in its home key. In the published version this "Bflat major concerto" ends with a fast g minor movement.

op.3 #6 as published are merely 2 unrelated movements, the 2nd an organ concerto movement in d minor that the publisher combined with a D major piece (without organ solo). Marriner and Leppard just play them as published, Harnoncourt, Minkowski and Egarr add a brief improvisatory organ solo as a bridge, that's better. Other recordings since the 80s offer a reconstruction with 2 additional movements to complete a D major concerto. I prefer this (but it's still not a major piece, so it's not such a big deal). Both Hogwood and Lamon/Tafelmusik have this reconstructed concerto (and the d minor organ concerto movement as "bonus"). Of these 2 I preferred Lamon but both are a bit too lean and straightforward and lack the expressivity of Harnoncourt or Minkowski.

It is often claimed that Handel followed Corelli in his concerti but that's not true. While many of his concerti roughly follow the slow-fast-slow-fast (church sonata) pattern, others don't. Some have the "Vivaldian" fast-slow-fast (the clearest example is the harp/organ concerto op.4/6) but most are a mix, often adding dance movements to one of these schemes; e.g. op.3#2 is similar to Bach's Brandenburg #1 in that 2 dance movements follow the "Vivaldian" pattern and op.6#9 adds a minuet and gigue after the typical "Corellian" 4 movements.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

It's a ridiculous charge to think of the remark that something is OOP as "bragging". It's simply true and a worthwhile information so that the people who still buy big boxes don't get excited at an affordable and convenient big box when it's not available anymore.

As it happens, I went through a bunch of Handel recordings in the last few weeks, the op.3 concerti, some of the organ concerti and slowly starting with op.6.

For op.3 surprisingly the Harnoncourt that I remembered as a bit rough and not as good as his op.6 adn organ concerti was my favorite. Next Minkowski that I had already singled out for culling. Minkowski has as unique oddity that recorder, flute and oboe share solo duties in #3 (usually it's oboe or flute, I much prefer oboe)

On modern instruments, there's not much between Marriner and Leppard, I slightly prefer the latter although he also has an interesting choice, namely he transfers one of the two concluding dance movements from #2 to #1! so that the latter ends in its home key. In the published version this "Bflat major concerto" ends with a fast g minor movement.

op.3 #6 as published are merely 2 unrelated movements, the 2nd an organ concerto movement in d minor that the publisher combined with a D major piece (without organ solo). Marriner and Leppard just play them as published, Harnoncourt, Minkowski and Egarr add a brief improvisatory organ solo as a bridge, that's better. Other recordings since the 80s offer a reconstruction with 2 additional movements to complete a D major concerto. I prefer this (but it's still not a major piece, so it's not such a big deal). Both Hogwood and Lamon/Tafelmusik had this reconstructed concerto (and the d minor organ concerto movement as "bonus"). Of these 2 I preferred Lamon but both are a bit too lean and straightforward and lack the expressivity of Harnoncourt or Minkowski.

It is often claimed that Handel followed Corelli in his concerti but that's not true. While many of his concerti roughly follow the slow-fast-slow-fast (church sonata) pattern, others don't. Some have the "Vivaldian" fast-slow-fast (the clearest example if the harp/organ concerto op.4/6) but most are a mix, often adding dance movements to one of these schemes; e.g. op.3#2 is similar to Bach's Brandenburg #1 in that 2 dance movements follow the "Vivaldian" pattern and op.6#9 adds a minuet and gigue after the typical "Corellian" 4 movements

Thanks for sharing these thoughts. Very interesting to read.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

I'm currently looking at purchasing this particular book on Handel, which looks like it will have some useful information:



Does anyone else own this book and if you do, what do think about it? Should I consider another one instead?

[Jo498]

I don't know that book but it looks very good as a reference.
As it is probably not that easy to find commentaries on lesser known oratorios or operas, there are not many other options (I have a book on the oratorios but it's in German). The book by Glover mentioned above could not replace such an encyclopedia, it's mostly biography and not good for quick reference.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

I don't know that book but it looks very good as a reference.
As it is probably not that easy to find commentaries on lesser known oratorios or operas, there are not many other options (I have a book on the oratorios but it's in German). The book by Glover mentioned above could not replace such an encyclopedia, it's mostly biography and not good for quick reference.

Thanks a lot! Looks like that Cambridge book would be the way to go.

[Jo498]

I don't quite share the enthusiasm expressed above about Egarr's op.3 and op.4 and neither about Manze's op.6.

Especially the latter was really hyped when it came out in the late 1990s. I only got them much later after they had been packaged together for the anniversary 2009 (probably a bit after that when these boxed were on sale ). They're good but apart from recorded sound not among the best. The Manze op.6 is very chamberish, mostly lean and fast, certainly very good in its way but others offer more contrast, more expression and feel more orchestral.

Egarr's orchestra sounds bigger, not only because of the woodwinds but it's actually a bit too dominant in the organ concertos vs. a somewhat puny sounding organ (Johan van Veen also critized the lack of recorders in #6 but they are so soft in many other recordings that they are often hardly audible, e.g. in Harnoncourt/Tachezi I had to look up if they played at all...).
Egarr's op.3 is good but I don't find it extraordinary; the best thing here is the filler, the rarely recorded "sonata à 5" that is actually a quasi-violin concerto written in Italy and in the Vivaldian style.

[prémont]

The Manze op.6 is very chamberish, mostly lean and fast, certainly very good in its way but others offer more contrast, more expression and feel more orchestral.

In my view Händel's op.6 often gets too heavy due to its compact textures. This happens of course the most with modern instruments. And it's precisely the lighter chamber like character of Manze's recording which is the attraction for me.

[Jo498]

I can understand this but I think e.g. Marriner on modern instruments or Hogwood on older ones achieve in op.6 a very good balance between "weight", contrast and transparency and I like both of them better than Manze. I also prefer Harnoncourt's but this is obviously on the heavy side.

I used to find the Marriner a bit "slick" but I was surprised how much I liked it when re-listening (to one half only), also some of the organ concerti with Malcolm were much better than I had remembered them.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Aside from my Handel CD purchases, I did manage to snag this edition of Gramophone Magazine via eBay:



And I'm definitely still planning on buying that Cambridge encyclopedia. I hope Cambridge releases one on Bach.

[Elgarian Redux]

I can't remember when I bought this box of Handel's chamber music - some years ago, certainly - but my goodness it's been fantastically rewarding.

There are so many times when I want to have some music playing to achieve a certain kind of mood. No disrespect to Handel, but I might be doing something else at the same time: reading, or writing, or making something. So the music mustn't be too intrusive, and yet not be mere wallpaper. It should enable, or even encourage, what @Florestan calls 'inattentive listening'. It's quite a tough thing to ask, I suppose.

Anyway, this box has 6 CDs in it, any one of which, I've found, will do the job. Like Handel's cantatas, the music seems to induce a feeling of warm, sylvan outdoorness, a bit like a Claude Lorrain painting or a C17th Dutch landscape etching, and it seems to energise the air in a particular way that accords with that. The air itself seems to sparkle - well not literally, but I feel that it might.

The outcome of this, if I'm reading (say), is to create a sort of cloud of musically-enchanted air in the room. It's not at all like what I'd describe as 'background music' - I'm much more conscious of it than that; and yet listening to it isn't my prime activity at the time.

I thought I'd like to tip my hat to this box. In its own quiet, understated way, it's been among my best musical purchases.

[Jo498]

I got this box when I discovered Handel beyond Messiah and usual suspects of orchestral music in the early-mid 2000s.
I also used it then frequently as semi-background music while playing videogames or surfing online (so that one could shift one's attention between the music and the other activity) and got many hours of enjoyment from it.

When recorded around 1990? it was certainly a competitive set (probably also the only one on historic instruments and so comprehensive) but I don't think this is the case 35 years later.
 
As I had them separately in an early "Brilliant" edition I replaced all of them but op.2 and the disc with non-opus/partly dubious trio sonatas. It's good but I find it often a bit "dry" both in recording and playing, one might even call it austere at times (e.g. not offering much variation in the b.c. where others have sometimes organ or a bassoon). I think it's worthwhile to explore other options, from the 1970s Brüggen recording of the woodwind sonatas to recentish ones of the trio sonatas by Brook street band and others.
 
There is also an odd (but defensible) choice in that several doubtful works are included for the woodwind and trio sonatas (as is often the case) but the violin sonatas are restricted to the only 4 undoubtedly authentic ones + 2 separate movements which is obviously less than most other single discs dedicated to the violin sonatas will give you.