Classical Music

The new Oehms Classics CD by Hansjörg Albrecht contains two of Handel‘s best-known works, transcribed for organ and recorded in Handel‘s baptismal church, the Marktkirche in Halle. These magnificent sounding solo works, played by organist Martin Schmeding, as well as the newly arranged concertos for organ and orchestra, fully convey Handel‘s unbridled playfulness to the listener. An exclusive Oehms Classics recording artist since 2006, conductor and organist Hansjörg Albrecht is Artistic Director of the Munich Bach Choir and Bach Orchestra (founded by the legendary Karl Richter).

Conductor Ferdinand Leitner (1912-96), learning his trade from masters like Walter, Busch, Richter and Karl Muck (as rehearsal pianist at Bayreuth), gained the experience that lead to his being dubbed the "singers' conductor" by all who worked with him during a long and lustrous career marked by his tenure as Zurich Opera music director (1969-84) and some 300 commercial recordings. The 1970's-80's Bayreuth stalwart, bass-baritone Franz Mazura as Tamerlano and famed American lyric soprano Helen Donath as Asteria headline this 1966 Leitner-led performance of Handel's Tamerlano.

London Early Opera continue their new series of Handel's works with the second volume of pieces composed in Italy. Both volumes of Handel in Italy explore the young composer's Italian years through his cantatas, sacred pieces, operatic works and instrumental compositions. Featuring performances from internationally acclaimed soloists, the sopranos Sophie Bevan and Mary Bevan with their uncle, baritone Benjamin Bevan, conducted and conceived by Bridget Cunningham.

Volume 1 of the series "Handeliana Hallensis" shows three different facets of George Frederick Handel's compositional work. The 22 movements known by the name of "Water Music" belong to Handel's most popular orchestral pieces. The composer however did not leave any autographs. Subsequent copies and prints do not always include all of the movements and sometimes they are presented in different orders. Some of the individual movements were probably created at different times. The suite performed on this album demonstrates the tonal contrasts in the overture and the diverse sonatas and dances. Handel could have discovered the form of the concerto grosso, in which a solo concertino was contrasted with the orchestra, in Italy. He had been composing special concerts for organ and in one case for harp and orchestra since 1735 in order to offer these between acts of his oratorio performances. He therefore wrote new concerts in concerto grosso form or compiled them from existing movements for the 1739/40 season in the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theater. The sixth concerto in G minor which can be heard on this album is one of the totally new compositions. Although this was like several others inspired by Corelli, it can be seen to be more innovative in harmony, rhythm, and texture.

Unlike Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the supreme composers of the high Baroque, Handel was not by profession a church composer. He did write a number of anthems and smaller sacred works and invented the English oratorio, a hybrid of sacred and secular elements that assures his renown in sacred music, particularly through a single work of that genre, Messiah. Messiah bookends this ten-album set, with a which begins with the original, and ends with Mozart's arrangement of the work. Also included are Saul, Alexander's Feast, Belshazzar, and Dettinger te Deum. These reference recordings are presented by the biggest names of baroque music scene: Karl Richter, Helmuth Rilling, Ulrich St�tzel.

Hooked on Handel

Classical Music

In their last recording project Handel Tribute, L'Apoth�ose pays homage to the great composer by performing six chamber music top pieces chosen from his op. 2, op. 5 and solo instrument with basso continuo repertoire. Mozart is reputed to have said of G. F. H�ndel (1685-1759): Handel understands affect better than any of us. When he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt. L'Apoth�ose is considered as one of the reference groups in the historical interpretation in Spain. In recent years the ensemble has won 12 national and international awards including the First Prize at the 2019 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition (United Kingdom), First Prize at the G�ttingen H�ndel Competition 2017 (Germany), Second Prize at the prestigious International Van Wassenaer Competition 2018 within the Oude Muziek Festival in Utrecht (Netherlands) and the Second Prize at the Concours International de Musique Ancienne de Val de Loire 2017 (France) chaired by William Christie. All these merits have brought L'Apoth�ose to become "Ensemble in Residence" of the 2019/2020 season of the CNDM (Centro Nacional de Difusi�n Musical) in Spain and to the main international and national venues.

George Frideric Handel's early Italian cantatas were a laboratory for his vocal writing, daring experiments in melody and harmony upon which Handel drew for the rest of his composing life. In Handel Uncaged, the internationally renowned countertenor Lawrence Zazzo has 'uncaged' a selection of these cantatas for the alto voice, presenting them in new ways, crowned by the world premiere recording of unpublished music from Handel's astonishing and amusing 10-aria cantata cycle, Amore Uccellatore. Zazzo is joined by a stellar continuo team of Jonathan Manson (cello and viola da gamba), Andrew Maginley (theorbo & guitar) and Guillermo Brachetta (harpsichord).

Classical Music

Classical Music

Nicholas McGegan has been called a “Handel master” by The San Francisco Chronicle and is considered a foremost Handel interpreter throughout the world. So who better to present the rarely performed Joseph and his Brethren than Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale? Handel’s unfairly neglected—yet splendid—oratorio depicts the grandeur of Pharaoh’s court in an intriguing plot of familial conflict and mistaken identity. With a cast of favorites including Diana Moore and Nicholas Phan, Nicholas McGegan and his historically informed Orchestra and Chorale present a lively studio recording of the program that delighted audiences and critics alike. Under the direction of Nicholas McGregan since 1985, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale is recognized as America’s leading historically informed ensemble. Using authentic instruments and stylistic conventions of the Baroque to early Romantic periods, the Orchestra engages audiences through performance, tours, recordings, commissions, and education of the highest standard.

When one of the most illustrious sopranists of our time becomes a conductor, he chooses nothing less than Messiah! Franco Fagioli paints a fresco of Handel's masterpiece with a Latin exaltation, drawing this great English Baroque oratorio in the colours of the Mediterranean, together with the famous Barcelona choir and their Caravaggesque chiaroscuro, which gives the work a shimmer of moiré. The Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal provides the backdrop for the splendours revealed by the soloists, who take us on a journey of joy and sorrow through the life and Passion of Christ: "Behold, I tell you a Mystery … "

Tim Mead, Marie Arnet, William Berger, Andrew Radley, David Bates, Kristen Blaise, and Wolf Matthias Friedrich star in this 2009 Internationale Haendel-Festspiele Goetingen production of the Handel opera.