Handel: Concerti Grossi Op. 6
$35.00
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GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Concerti Grossi Op. 6
Andrew Manze (violin / director) / Academy of Ancient Music
[ Harmonia Mundi Gold / 2 CD ]
Release Date: Friday 7 July 2017
This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.
1001 Classical recordings to hear before you die (1700-1760)
Considered among the finest examples of Baroque orchestral music, Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op.6, completed in 1739 over a mere four weeks, surpass the work of other outstanding composers of the form, such as Vivaldi, Scarlatti, and Corelli. Conceived as a grand cycle rather than as individual compositions, these 12 pieces demonstrate Handel's facility blending a variety of styles and devices with seemingly endless melodic beauty. Andrew Manze leads The Academy of Ancient Music in a vivid and vibrant performance.
"Richard Egarr's charisma is infectious and the recorded sound sensational." BBC Music Magazine
"With one stride, Harmonia Mundi has stolen a march on Chandos Chaconne's rival set of Handel's Op 6 with Simon Standage's Collegium Musicum 90; by juggling with the order, the 12 concertos have been accommodated on only two CDs. The AAM is on sparkling form, clearly enjoying itself under Andrew Manze's leadership.
Performances are invigoratingly alert, splendidly neat (all those semiquaver figurations absolutely precise) and strongly rhythmical but not inflexible, with much dynamic gradation which ensures that phrases are always tonally alive and sound completely natural (even if more subtly nuanced than Handel's players ever dreamt of). Manze's basically light-footed approach is particularly appealing, and he sees to it that inner-part imitations are given their due weight.
Speeds are nearly all fast, occasionally questionably so (though exhilarating), as in the first Allegro of No 1, the big Allegro of No 6 and the Allegro in No 9. But Manze successfully brings out the character of all the movements, and the listener can't fail to love the vigorous kick of his No 7 hornpipe. He's mostly sparing in embellishing solo lines except in Nos-6 and 11.
Altogether this is an issue of joyous vitality." Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
"This is a joy...the inventiveness of these 12 concertos is staggering, and it's seized upon by Manze and his fine players...Essential listening." Sunday Times, 13th August 2017
