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Handel: Sonatas for Violin & Basso Continuo / Brook Street Band
Avie Records

Handel: Sonatas for Violin & Basso Continuo / Brook Street Band

$19.99 Only 1 left

Details

Composer
HANDEL, GEORGE FRIDERIC
Artist
The Brook Street Band
Format
CD
Label
Avie Records
Released
Jun 01, 2018
Catalog #
AV2387
UPC
822252238723

About

The Brook Street Band has produced attractive recordings of Handel’s chamber music for Avie, and this newcomer is no exception. There are nine Handel violin sonatas, theoretically, and all of them are included here. Of course, with Handel you never really know. Five sonatas exist in verifiable manuscripts, four were printed without any demonstrable input from the composer, and all of them may well use music by others, as was Handel’s wont. But none of it matters because, as Tovey perspicaciously observed, every note added by Handel annihilates the rest.

The first sonata (in G, HWV158) dates from Handel’s days in Italy, and it’s the only work in three movements. I was a bit worried here because in the central slow movement violinist Rachel Harris adopts a “period instrument tone” that has soft, sustained notes on the verge of disappearing entirely. Of course, a decent vibrato would have helped, but as the saying goes, if the basic timbre is unattractive that’s like trying to put lipstick on a pig. Happily, once past the Sonata in G, Harris shows that her sound in sustained music, while slender, is mellow, touching, and sensitively varied.

The remaining sonatas are all in “church” style, that is four movements, slow-fast-slow-fast(ish). Three are in minor keys, smartly dispersed within the broadly chronological ordering of the set, and they provide welcome contrast to the general predominance of charm and cheer. Of course, all of the music is charming, with an abundance of melody that suggests, as the booklet notes state, that Handel’s authorship even in the four doubtful works is more likely than not. If eighty minutes of less than familiar Handel, elegantly presented and naturally recorded sounds appealing, then by all means give this disc serious consideration.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

Tracklist 35 tracks

  1. 1 I. Allegro 01:57
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Allegro
    Duration
    01:57
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  2. 2 II. Adagio 00:49
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Adagio
    Duration
    00:49
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  3. 3 III. Allegro 02:35
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Allegro
    Duration
    02:35
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  4. 4 I. Grave 02:32
    Track
    4
    Title
    I. Grave
    Duration
    02:32
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  5. 5 II. Allegro 01:43
    Track
    5
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    01:43
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  6. 6 III. Adagio 00:51
    Track
    6
    Title
    III. Adagio
    Duration
    00:51
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  7. 7 IV. Allegro 02:35
    Track
    7
    Title
    IV. Allegro
    Duration
    02:35
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  8. 8 I. Andante 02:26
    Track
    8
    Title
    I. Andante
    Duration
    02:26
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  9. 9 II. Allegro 01:54
    Track
    9
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  10. 10 III. Adagio 00:50
    Track
    10
    Title
    III. Adagio
    Duration
    00:50
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  11. 11 IV. Allegro 02:43
    Track
    11
    Title
    IV. Allegro
    Duration
    02:43
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  12. 12 I. Andante larghetto 01:56
    Track
    12
    Title
    I. Andante larghetto
    Duration
    01:56
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  13. 13 II. Allegro 01:44
    Track
    13
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    01:44
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  14. 14 III. Adagio 00:41
    Track
    14
    Title
    III. Adagio
    Duration
    00:41
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  15. 15 IV. Allegro 02:14
    Track
    15
    Title
    IV. Allegro
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  16. 16 I. Adagio 01:15
    Track
    16
    Title
    I. Adagio
    Duration
    01:15
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  17. 17 II. Allegro 02:24
    Track
    17
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    02:24
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  18. 18 III. Largo 01:14
    Track
    18
    Title
    III. Largo
    Duration
    01:14
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  19. 19 IV. Allegro 02:57
    Track
    19
    Title
    IV. Allegro
    Duration
    02:57
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  20. 20 I. Adagio 01:54
    Track
    20
    Title
    I. Adagio
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  21. 21 II. Allegro 02:53
    Track
    21
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    02:53
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  22. 22 III. Largo 01:35
    Track
    22
    Title
    III. Largo
    Duration
    01:35
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  23. 23 IV. Allegro 02:47
    Track
    23
    Title
    IV. Allegro
    Duration
    02:47
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  24. 24 I. Andante 02:19
    Track
    24
    Title
    I. Andante
    Duration
    02:19
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  25. 25 II. Allegro 02:49
    Track
    25
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    02:49
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  26. 26 III. Adagio 02:01
    Track
    26
    Title
    III. Adagio
    Duration
    02:01
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  27. 27 IV. Gigue 02:32
    Track
    27
    Title
    IV. Gigue
    Duration
    02:32
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  28. 28 I. Adagio 03:12
    Track
    28
    Title
    I. Adagio
    Duration
    03:12
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  29. 29 II. Allegro 02:13
    Track
    29
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    02:13
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  30. 30 III. Largo 03:19
    Track
    30
    Title
    III. Largo
    Duration
    03:19
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  31. 31 IV. Allegro 03:53
    Track
    31
    Title
    IV. Allegro
    Duration
    03:53
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  32. 32 I. Affettuoso 03:11
    Track
    32
    Title
    I. Affettuoso
    Duration
    03:11
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  33. 33 II. Allegro 02:57
    Track
    33
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    02:57
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  34. 34 III. Larghetto 02:46
    Track
    34
    Title
    III. Larghetto
    Duration
    02:46
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band
  35. 35 IV. Allegro 03:55
    Track
    35
    Title
    IV. Allegro
    Duration
    03:55
    Composer
    George Frideric Handel
    Performer
    Rachel Harris
    Ensemble
    The Brook Street Band