HÄNDEL:DER MESSIAS (Q)/KOCH

Expectations for Dunedin Consort’s recording of Acis & Galatea were high; its release in 2008 followed on from its hugely successful recording of Handel’s Messiah. The combination of Messiah’s award-winning cast and director John Butt’s insights into authentic performance practice ensured it was met with numerous recommendations and outstanding reviews. Acis & Galatea is a beautiful pastoral entertainment; Handel’s first dramatic work in English is a simple yet highly emotional story that encompasses the extremes of love and tragedy. There are notable differences in the original performing version from 1718, including changes in instrumentation and vocal scoring (there is no alto line) made by Handel to suit the forces at Cannons. Butt chose this version specifically because of the small forces involved, since this was one of the aspects that made Messiah so distinctive; although there have been ‘first versions’ of Acis recorded before, Butt felt that there were certain aspects of the original version that had not yet been sufficiently realized.

What greater gift can there be for a recorder player, than Handel's Sonatas for recorder and basso continuo? Having loved the masterpiece since she came across it in her studies, Muriel Rochat Rienth simply hoped that someday, she would have the opportunity to record this opus magnum.

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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).

Handel, G.F.: Orchestral Music - Hwv 35, 313, 317, 322, 334,

The Heroick Mr. Handel

HANDEL: WATER MUSIC DIETER KO

2009 3 X CD 250th Anniversary edition of Salomo (Salomon) Oratorium in Drei Akten HWV 67. Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Berlin conducted by Heinz Rogner. Performers include Marga Schiml, Eberhard Buchner, Hermann Christian Polster, Regina Werner, Eva Maria Bundschuh, Helga Termer & more.

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Recorded during this year’s Misteria Paschalia Festival in Poland, Dunedin Consort’s performance of Handel’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day sees them joined for the first time by tenor Ian Bostridge and soprano Carolyn Sampson. Bostridge demonstrates the technical mastery and vocal precision that has seen him win all the major international record prizes in his twenty-five year career. Highly sought-after for her refined Baroque sensibilities and pure intonation, Sampson’s lyric soprano is ideally suited to Handel. Led by John Butt, with singers from the Polish Radio Choir, this rich and colorful tribute to music’s patron saint is the latest in their much-lauded Handel discography, which includes Messiah, Acis & Galatea and Esther, each recording having won widespread acclaim. The recording is completed by Handel’s Concerto Grosso in A minor Op. 6 No. 4, in which Dunedin Consort’s exceptional instrumentalists take center stage.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

In this pioneering recording Dunedin Consort presents a brand new performing version of one of Handel’s greatest dramatic works, Samson. For the first time listeners can enjoy an authentic Handelian chorus, comprising both solo sopranos and boy trebles – a sonority largely unheard in the modern age. The singers available to Handel for the work’s first set ofa performances in 1743 varied considerably, leading many researchers to speculate upon the composer’s own preferences. But new thinking by director John Butt has led to the evolution of this recording and to what he considers to be the definitive performance in line with Handel’s intentions. This powerful oratorio – an opera in all but name – features soloists Sophie Bevan, Matthew Brook, Mary Bevan, Hugo Hymas and Jess Dandy, with Joshua Ellicott in the title role. Matching the revelatory historical practice begun in its award-winning recording of Messiah (Dublin Version, 1742), the soloists lead their sections to unite the solo and choral forces, creating a highly effective and cohesive sound. With rich orchestration and highlights such as ‘Let the bright seraphim’ and ‘Total eclipse’, Samson is Dunedin Consort’s most ambitious undertaking to date.

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REVIEW:

This new Samson now becomes the top recommendation: for its uniformly excellent soloists, its excitingly ‘present’ choral singing and, above all, its more urgent sense of theatre. Sophie and Mary Bevan, both natural Handelian stylists, are well-nigh ideal. Jess Dandy, a true contralto, is the oratorio’s voice of balm, singing the sublime prayer ‘Return, O God of hosts’ with warm, even tone and broad phrasing.

– Gramophone

Handel, G.F.: Hercules [Oratorio] (Sung in German)

GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL: Veronique Gens, soprano; Philippe Jaroussky, male alto; Ingrid Perruche, soprano; Nigel Smith, baritone; Thierry Gregoire, male alto; Bernard Deletre, bass; Fabrice Di Falco, male soprano; AlainBuet, bass; La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy/Jean-Claude Mal GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL: Agrippina.

Dorothea Seel brings us on this recording a historically informed performance of Handel’s flute sonatas. Performing on flauto traverso, Ms. Seel is accompanied by Luca Gugliemi on Cembalo. Dorothea Seel is a critically acclaimed performer. “…Dorothea Seel was a graceful and gentle flute soloist” (New York Times) “…with quite breathtaking athletic playing and hauntingly elegiac moments.” (Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2014)

Handel’s violin sonatas have been staples of the repertoire for generations, but there has been considerable confusion about their authenticity. Early editorial practice saw to it that several authentic works were published for instruments such as flute and oboe, but more recent scholarship has established that originally they were written for the violin. All the sonatas are full of Handel’s dashing bravura and his gift for expressive slow movements, providing a series of beautifully proportioned masterpieces. Ariadne Daskalakis’s recording of the Tartini Violin Concertos (8.570222) was welcomed with acclaim for its ‘grace and lyrical poetry’. (MusicWeb International)

Sara Mingardo, Ruth Rosique and Atonio Abete lead the cast in this premiere recording of Handel's opera from Turin's Teatro Carignano in 2009. Davide Livermore, the director, makes this 2009 production both enjoyable and interesting to watch. It has been recorded in the newly restored and beautiful Teatro Carignano in Turin and features Sara Mingardo, Ruth Rosique and Atonio Abete in the leading roles. Based on the well-known mythological story narrated by Ovid in the Metamorphoses, this is a classical tale of jealousy and love. The giant Polyphemus tries to force his attention on the fair sea-nymph Galatea, who is in love with the shepherd Aci. When mad jealousy drives Polyphemus to kill his rival, Galatea asks her father Nereus to turn Aci�s blood into a river so that, flowing into the sea, he will join her forevermore. Directed by Davide Livermore, Matteo Ricchetti. Starring Ruth Rosique, Antonio Abete, Cristina Banchetti. Language: Italian Subtitles: English, Italian, German, French, Spanish

These works are so familiar--and so frequently successfully recorded--that a reviewer can almost admire the record buyer who already owns one or two versions (say, one on modern instruments and another on period) and doesn't have to sit and analyze another. Decisions, decisions: Gardiner (Philips) is just about ideal on period instruments, but Norrington (Virgin), also on period instruments, has more personality and offers some surprises from the brass. Charles Mackerras (Telarc), with modern instruments, is brightly colored. But enough about them.

Both works were composed for outdoor events--heaven knows what they sounded like. The Water Music (1715, 1717) was used to entertain royalty floating up and down the Thames; some of it may have been played indoors with supper. The Royal Fireworks Music dates from 1749 and was to be performed in Green Park to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle; the rehearsal, a week earlier, was attended by 12,000 people. At the performance itself, the fireworks were unimpressive, but one of the pavilions caught fire. Talk about excitement.

Kevin Mallon leads a Toronto-based, 34-person group of period instrumentalists called the Aradia Ensemble on this new, bargain issue, and it's a terrific, ear-opening show. The music is, above all, joyful, with dance movements galore and plenty of giddy pomp. Mallon has rethought the tempos, almost all of which, he feels, should be quicker than we're accustomed to hearing. If you listen to the Air, the fourth movement to Suite No. 1, you'll be surprised at how good it sounds played without the usual serious "aura" that drags it down. Mallon writes in the accompanying notes that he looked at an 18th-century score for the piece and discovered it was marked "presto".


These quick tempos work most of the time, and if, for example, you overlook the fact that the alla hornpipe of the Water Music Suite No. 2 and the Rigaudon of No. 3 could only have been danced by a dancer on speed, and just listen to how effortlessly entertaining the music is, you'll love it. Mallon is not rigid in his fleetness, however: the final movement of Suite No. 1 is relaxed, and he slows it down even further for its last few seconds, giving it the stature it requires.


Mallon also adds side-drum and tambourines to a couple of the movements, and they add jollity and jauntiness; only a whiner would object. There's a thin line in this music between too ostentatious and too mild, and by keeping his forces slim and his tempos original and suited to the music, he avoids being either. When the trumpets and horns ring out they don't blare, and in La Paix from the Royal Fireworks Music, when Mallon uses transverse flutes (as suggested in the original manuscript), the effect is magical rather than just mellow. Listen to the overture of the Royal Fireworks, brass blasting, drums being banged with wooden-headed sticks, all at a military tempo that implies forward propulsion rather than combative stodginess.


If I have one criticism of the performances, it's similar to how I feel about the same conductor's recent recording of Rinaldo: the strings tend to attack softly, and I prefer more snap. Maybe I'm looking for trouble, but those slashing attacks tend to make you sit up and listen even more attentively. But these performances are wonderfully peppery nonetheless, and Naxos' absolutely natural recording captures every sound and balances the instruments ideally. This is both a bargain and a terrific reading. Highly recommended, and right to the top of the list. [3/7/2006]
--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

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HANDEL: Solomon, HWV 67

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Choreographer Mark Morris garnered international fame for "L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato", considered a landmark achievement, and set to Handel's Baroque masterpiece, in which a colorful array of dancers embody the ecstasy of art that transforms. "L'Allegro" was Mark Morris's premiere work as Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium in 1988, and in the intervening years, has been performed to critical and audience acclaim all over the world. Winner of numerous awards including a Laurence Olivier Award, "L'Allegro" uses Milton's text and features sets inspired by William Blake's later watercolors. Founded in NYC in 1980, the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) is considered one of the preeminent modern dance companies, its members praised repeatedly for their technique and musicality. Live music and community engagement are vital components of the Dance Group, which has toured with its own musicians, the MMDG Music Ensemble, since 1996. Through Access/MMDG programming, the Dance Group provides educational opportunities in dance and music to people of all ages and abilities while on tour internationally and at home at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY. The performance was filmed July 2014 at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain.

Handel, G.F.: Organ Concertos Nos. 1-4

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir present an intimate and stirring performance of Handel's Messiah. This 2-CD recording of the full score on period instruments features a stellar cast of soloists including Karina Gauvin, Robin Blaze, Rufus Muller and Brett Polegatol. Tafelmusik presents this baroque masterpiece with the spirit and vitality of Handel's own 18th-century productions. A perennial favorite with audiences and critics alike, Tafelmusik's Messiah has garnered glowing reviews year after year.

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Described by librettist Charles Jennens with typical English understatement as “a fine entertainment,” Handel’s Messiah was initially controversial as a biblical oratorio written for secular theatres. Within years it was however being “received with universal applause” and its composer’s purpose in delighting and charming his listeners has made this masterpiece an international favorite ever since. This eye-catching, audiovisual recording of Handel’s masterpiece with its cast of renowned soloists captures the 2016 Easter concert in the impressive Baroque Basilica of Klosterneuburg, Austria.

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MESSIAH [HIGHLIGHTS]

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