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CD reviews
George Frideric HANDEL (1685 - 1759): Orchestral music
[I] Concerti grossi Op. 6
Accademia Bizantina
Dir: Ottavio Dantone
rec:July 16 - 23, 2020, Bagnacavallo (Ravenna), Chiesa di San Girolamo
HDB Sonus - HDB-AB-ST-002 (© 2022) (2.40'18")
Liner-notes: E/IT
Cover & track-list
Spotify
Concerto grosso in G, op. 6,1 (HWV 319);
Concerto grosso in F, op. 6,2 (HWV 320);
Concerto grosso in e minor, op. 6,3 (HWV 321);
Concerto grosso in a minor, op. 6,4 (HWV 322);
Concerto grosso in D, op. 6,5 (HWV 323);
Concerto grosso in g minor, op. 6,6 (HWV 324)f;
Concerto grosso in B flat, op. 6,7 (HWV 325);
Concerto grosso in c minor, op. 6,8 (HWV 326);
Concerto grosso in F, op. 6,9 (HWV 327);
Concerto grosso in d minor, op. 6,10 (HWV 328);
Concerto grosso in A, op. 3,11 (HWV 329);
Concerto grosso in b minor, op. 3,12 (HWV 330)
Alessandro Tampieri, Maria Grokhotova, Sara Meloni, Paolo Zinzani, Andrea Vassalle, Ana Liz Ojeda, Mauro Massa, Heriberto Delgado, Valentina Giusti, violin;
Marco Massera, Alice Bisanti, viola;
Emmanuel Jacques, Paolo Ballanti, cello;
Nicola Dal Maso, Luca Bandini, double bass;
Tiziano Bagnati, archlute;
Fabiano Merlante, theorbo;
Ottavio Dantone, harpsichord;
Stefano Demicheli, organ
[II] "Ballo per Orchestra - Overtures & Arias"
Capriccio Barockorchester
Dir: Dominik Kiefer
rec: Sept 26 - 27 & Oct 2 - 4, 2020, Basel, Martinskirche
Tudor - 7197 (© 2022) (62'40")
Liner-notes: E/D
Cover & track-list
Spotify
Alcina (HW 34) (sarabande);
Almira (HWV 1) (ritornello; Sprich von mir ein süsses Wort);
Ariodante (HWV 33) (ballo; rondeau; sinfonia: larghetto);
Atalanta (HWV 35) (overture);
Athalia (HWV 52) (Softest sounds);
Belshazzar (HWV 61) (Let festal joy);
Giulio Cesare (HWV 17) (sinfonia);
Il pastor fido (HWV 8) (Occhi belli);
Imeneo (HWV 41) (overture: allegro; menuet);
Judas Maccabaeus (HWV 63) (With honour let desert be crowned);
Partenope (HWV 27) (sinfonia);
Rinaldo (HWV 7) (Augelletti; Vo' far guerra);
Samson (HWV 57) (overture);
Teseo (HWV9) (overture)
Henry Moderlak, trumpet;
Gerard Serrano Garcia, Jules Lézy, horn;
Amy Power, Philipp Wagner, recorder, oboe;
Keiko Kinoshita, Nadja Camichel, transverse flute;
Aleksandr Fester, oboe;
Rainer Johannsen, bassoon;
Dominik Kiefer, Daila Dambrauska, Jörn-Sebastian Kuhlmann, Eva Noth, Filip Rekiec, Christoph Rudolf, violin;
Carlos Vallés Garcia, Corinne Raymnd-Jarczyk, viola;
Ilze Grudule, Marion Gast, cello;
Markus Bernhard, violone;
Daniele Caminiti, lute;
Yves Bilger, harpsichord;
Marc Meisel, organ
[III] "Water & Fire"
B'Rock Orchestra
Dir: Dmitry Sinkovsky
rec: April 2022, Gent, De Bijloke
Pentatone - PTC5187013 (© 2023) (64'34")
Liner-notes: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
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Music for the Royal Fireworks (HWV 351);
Water Music (HWV 348-350)
Sander Kintaert, Bram Mergaert, Elena Torres, trumpet;
Jeroen Billiet, Mark De Merlier, Pieter D'Hoe, horn;
Benjamin Aghassi, recorder, bassoon
Antoine Torunczyk, Marta Blawat, Stefaan Verdegem, Nele Vertommen, oboe;
Josep Casadella, bassoon;
Tomasz Wesolowski, contrabassoon;
Boris Begelman (concertmaster), Rebecca Huber, Jivka Kaltcheva, Ortwin Lowyck, Madoka Nakamaru, David Rabinovici, Ellie Nimeroski, Gisela Cammaert, Elin, Eriksson, Myriam Mahnane, Liesbeth Nijs, Naoko Ogura, violin;
Raquel Massadas, Amaryllis Bartholomeus, Manuela Bucher, Blanca Prieto, Sylvestre Vergez, viola;
Rebecca Rosen, Michel Boulanger, Marian Minnen, Diana Vinagre, cello;
Tom Devaere, Elise Christiaens, Mattias Frostenson, double bass;
Karl Nyhlin, Shizuko Noiri, lute;
Alexander von Heißen, harpsichord;
Andreas Küppers, harpsichord, organ;
Jan Huylebroeck, timpani;
Koen Plaetinck, percussion
Scores
George Frideric Handel is known for his vocal music in the first place and that was also the cause of his reputation in his own time in England. However, it is because of this that there was much demand for instrumental music of his pen. Unhindered by scruples, the publisher John Walsh used this for the publication of a set of concerti grossi, which he had assembled from pieces Handel had written, as the opus 3.
There was much need for orchestral music. The German critic and composer Johann Mattheson wrote: "In Italy and France there is something to be heard and learned; in England something to be earned". This explains the large number of editions of instrumental music produced at the time. Such music was played in the theatre, as were Handel's concerti grossi and later his organ concertos, but also in public concerts, mostly by professional players, and in gatherings of musical societies, which were usually a mixture of professional players and amateurs. Whereas most public concerts took place in London, musical societies existed across the country. And as Italian music and in particular concerti grossi were hugely popular, there was every reason for Handel to produce another set of such works. In 1739 he composed the Concerti grossi Op. 6, which were then printed by John Walsh junior. At about the same time, Handel performed these concertos as part of his oratorio performances. Two of the concertos are also known as organ concertos - a genre for which Handel became especially famous, as he could show his skills in playing the organ and the art of improvisation.
In two ways the Op. 6 is different from the Op. 3. First, whereas the latter set consisted of music written previously, most movements of the Op. 6 concertos are original. That is to say: the London audiences may not have heard most of the music in these concertos. Scholars have discovered that in several movements, Handel was inspired by other composers, for instance Domenico Scarlatti and Gottlieb Muffat in their respective keyboard works. The fact that they were specifically written for publication explains the stronger amount of coherence in this set. Most concertos comprise five or six movements; only three have four.
The second difference is that the Op. 3 concertos were scored for two oboes, strings and basso continuo. In the Op. 6 concertos Handel confines himself to strings and basso continuo. However, when they were part of oratorio performances, in the season 1739/40, Handel added oboes, playing colla parte with the violins. The Akademie für Alte Musik recorded the concertos 1, 2, 5 and 6 with oboes and bassoon; like most ensembles, the Accademia Bizantina recorded the entire set with strings alone.
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Handel's concerti grossi are today as popular as they were in his own time. There is no lack of recordings. The Accademia Bizantina is one of the best ensembles from Italy, and its qualities come clearly to the fore here. There is no dull moment, and the players of the concertino are impressive. That does not necessarily indicate that the interpretations are convincing. One particular feature seems to me rather controversial: the often extreme dynamic contrasts. In general I am very much in favour of performances which respect the contrasts in dynamics and tempi within a piece. However, one should dose it carefully and not exaggerate. I feel that the latter is the case here. These concertos undoubtedly have dramatic traces, but they are no opera overtures. The approach of the Accademia Bizantina would be perfect for such pieces, creating the right armosphere for what is to come. Here a more moderate style of playing seems appropriate. The articulation is very clear, but non-legato and staccato are not the same. In short, these performances have much drama, but too little charm.
As I wrote in the first paragraph, Handel is foremost known as a composer of vocal music. If his operas had followed the French model, they would have included a large number of dances. These were a substantial part of each French opera, and the first main representative of this genre was Jean-Baptiste Lully. The dances in his opera were the inspiration of German composers to write orchestral suites, among them Telemann, Bach, Graupner and Fasch. Handel's operas are rooted in the Italian style, and in Italian opera the orchestra opened the proceedings with an overture, but otherwise did play a minor role. This explains that one won't find that many instrumental pieces in Handel's operas or, for that matter, in his oratorios, which stylistically are not fundamentally different from his operas.
The Capriccio Barockorchester has recorded a programme of instrumental music from Handel's vocal works. Dominik Sackmann, in his liner-notes, rightly argues that there are quite some instrumental pieces in Handel's dramatic works. One then expects a sequence of such items, and may then be surprised to find several arias which are performed instrumentally. I find that rather odd. There may seem no objection to the practice of transcription - Handel himself, after all, often used material from vocal works in his instrumental music. It is just a little inconsistent, and suggests that there is in fact not enough instrumental music in the operas. Apparently the performers did not want to confine themselves to the overtures to such works, which would be enough for more than one disc.
The liner-notes or the track-list could have been more specific about the original scoring of the vocal items. True Handelians may immediately recognize the arias included here, and know what the original scoring was. However, a more general audience may want to know who sings an aria, and which instrument plays the solo part. To give a few examples: 'With honour let desert be crowned' from Judas Maccabaeus is originally scored for tenor; the solo part is played here on the trumpet. The horn replaces the tenor in 'Let festal joy' from Belshazzar.
There is nothing wrong with the performances. The Capriccio Barockorchester is a fine ensemble, and the obbligato parts are played very well. The least satisfying item is 'Vo' far guerra' from Rinaldo, and that goes especially for the obbligato harpsichord part. That is not due to the performance: Yves Bilger plays it very well. It is the recording technique which fails here: the harpsichord does sound rather softly when it makes its first appearance after the opening orchestral episode. Gradually it becomes louder, until it is in the centre of the aural spectrum. This is rather unnatural: a recording should stay as closely as possible to a live performance as it could have been heard in performances in the composer's own time.
Lovers of Handel's music may enjoy this disc. The question is whether it adds something substantial to the Handel discography. The answer is probably negative. Therefore this disc may be of interest mainly for those who like baroque orchestral music as such. If they are not familiar with Handel's dramatic works, it may encourage them to turn to that part of his oeuvre.
As far as Handel's orchestral music is concerned, the Water Music and the Music for the Royal Fireworks are certainly his most popular works. They are often performed and recorded, and the combination of these two pieces on one disc is a logical one. It needs to be said that originally their scoring was different: the Water Music is scored for an orchestra of winds and strings, whereas the Fireworks Music was written for an ensemble of winds. However, Handel later added strings for an indoor performance. That is the way it is performed by the B'Rock Orchestra.
The Water Music is mostly performed in a sequence of three suites; this goes back to a tradition from the 1950s. However, in 2004 Terence Best discovered the earliest surviving manuscript, which shows that the work was originally performed as a single work. It is a bit of a mystery why this is ignored here. Moreover, the first two suites are performed in reverse order. The Water Music was played on a barge on the Thames, and it seems unlikely that the orchestra included a harpsichord and an organ, as is the case here. The harpsichord makes itself heard especially in the allegro which opens the second suite (and the disc), where it bridges some of the phrases, but - especially in contrast with the pretty loud orchestra - it is hardly audible, and in the rest of the programme the two keyboard instruments are even completely inaudible. The same goes for the plucked instruments. Instead, Dmitry Sinkovsky decided to add percussion. The score does not mention it, and there is no reason to believe that it was used in Handel's time. I don't know all recordings of the Water Music, but in none of the recordings in my collection percussion is used.
At the first performance the orchestra in the Music of the Royal Fireworks consisted of nine trumpets, nine horns, 24 oboes, twelve bassoons, one contrabassoon, one serpent, six kettledrums and two side drums. Here the line-up is much more modest: three trumpets, three horns, four oboes, two bassoons, one contrabassoon, timpani and percussion. I don't know whether Handel reduced the number of winds when the work was performed indoors; that seems possible, but it is questionable whether the difference would have been that great. Here the plucked and keyboard instruments are inaudible as well.
The tempi in these performances are on the bright side, which often is justified, but not always. In that respect the interpretation is a little one-sided. The second gigue in the third suite is played in overdrive; the pause before the closing chord is odd. The allegro moderato which closes the second suite, has a short violin cadenza before the end, which is just as odd.
There can be little doubt about the qualities of the B'Rock Orchestra; it has developed into a really good ensemble, and has been involved in several interesting projects, which span a wide period, from Monteverdi to the 19th century. It works with different conductors, and it is obvious that here Sinkovsky is the one who took the decisions with regard to the interpretation. There is certainly much to enjoy, and the playing is excellent. However, as a whole this recording has not really convinced me; there are just too many odd things and features that are not in line with what we know about the performance practice in Handel's time.
Johan van Veen (© 2024)
Relevant links:
Accademia Bizantina
B'Rock
Capriccio Barockorchester