Handel: Complete Violin Sonatas | George Frederick Handel, Richard Egarr, ...

Handel: Complete Violin Sonatas | George Frederick Handel, Richard Egarr, ... | Another Handle on Handel

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Handel: Complete V...

	Handel: Complete Violin Sonatas George Frederick Handel, Richard Egarr, ... Harmonia Mundi Fr., 2005 average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Simply astounding

It is not without a sense of awe that I write these words. I believe Mr. Handel himself, had he been alive to hear this recording, would have been thoroughly delighted and not perhaps devoid of a tear or two.

The grace and elegance with which these endearing sonatas are played is simply astounding. Both Manze and Egarr ought to be given knighthoods for this CD. It just has no peers. I find this supremely enjoyable CD to be an absolutely essential part of any serious baroque music fan's collection. The liner notes provide great background information of each of the sonatas, even those of less than certain authenticity, with a meticulousness that could concieveably allow for acceptable academic referencing, which is saying something!

With a careful attention to detail, the performers have given us a brilliant interpretation (I am willing to say the BEST I have ever heard, as obsequious as that may sound), of these works, in what must be considered a benchmark of high standards. Five out of five, for the purchase of the decade.

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Another Handle on Handel

Alongside the Handel of the oratorios and operas -- the Handel of what George Orwell called the Big Bow Wow -- there was also the composer of "pure" music. The violin sonatas are among the finest of Handel's chamber compositions, elegant, concise, and full of affect.
There are at least three performances of these sonatas available on CD at this time, a bonanza of musical choice. In addition to this performance by Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr, there's another by Hiro Kurosaki and Bill Christie, and yet another by violinist Rachal Barton. Each CD has attractions; you might use the "sample" function of amazon before you choose, for choose you must!
Kurosaki's violin playing is more varied, more imaginative, and (dare I say) more baroque. However, Christie's harpsichord continuo, though utterly authentic, is awfully sparse, hardly a partnership with the violin at all.
Manze plays the four sonatas which he regards as genuine Handel masterworks very masterfully indeed. Manze is not the subtlest of baroque fiddlers; I'd love to hear what Biondi or Holloway would do. Also, he pays scant respect to those other sonatas that he clearly regards as inauthentic Handel. He plays them perfunctorily and with occasional lapses of tuning. Richard Egarr's harpsichord continuo is expressive and solid throughout.
The chief attraction of Rachel Barton's performance is that the continuo is enriched by the cello of JM Rozendaal. Not to denigrate Ms Barton's fiddling! She plays wonderfully, but perhaps less specially than Manze or Kurosaki.
All in all, you can't go wrong with any of the three. Trust your own ears.

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Handel: Complete Violin Sonatas

This is a magnificent recording. I would say that this is probably the best recording ever of the Handel sonatas.

Recommended - With Reservations

Handel's five authenticated violin sonatas are gems of the late baroque violin repertoire; why they have not been more widely recorded is hard to understand. Leave it to baroque violin superstar Andrew Manze to put a complete version before the public. Manze plays the opening slow movements in a rhapsodic, dreamy manner, like improvisations, and lends his accustomed humor and audacity to the fast movements. It is enlightening to learn that the opening of the D major sonata is marked AFFETTUOSO, not MAESTOSO! I am continually surprised too by Manze's frequent use of finger extensions (creeping up to higher positions on the fingerboard) for expressive effect.

Now, recording the "complete" anything can be a questionable enterprise. The violin sonatas for which Handel's authorship is undisputed are five in number. In addition to these, Manze and Egarr have decided to record several spurious works, some of lesser merit; these tend to diminish the effect of the whole and give the impression of having been included simply to justify the title of the CD. (Indeed, Manze performs these selections in an off-hand, careless manner, as if he himself isn't convinced of their worth.) My second contention is with the absence of a cello or other sustaining bass instrument. In his historical note Manze does not provide a serious justification for omitting the cello beyond the fact that it was done in Handel's time. I miss the strength in the bass line that a sustaining instrument can provide, especially in contrapuntal material, but also in the slow movements, where there is a lot of right-hand "doodling" with no firm "bottom".

Are these reservations important enough to dissuade one from buying this disc? Well, consider this: the only other version of these works on baroque violin - by Hiro Kurosaki on Virgin - appears to be no longer available except in used copies; as it happens, that recording also lacks a bass instrument! Manze is always a charismatic performer, and for buyers on a budget who really want this repertoire, this will likely be the disc to choose.

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Good job but a little feeble

In the first place, on the whole, the rendition of the harpsicord (cembalo) is weak and the recording too much resonat and blurred, also too much on the background. The problem here is not the lack of the cello but the work of cembalo (harpsicord). Even the violin in the slow pieces give a rendition feeble, devoid of strenght and intensity, and also in the fast piece is a little strange; but on the other hand it's a considered and refined choice that could be appreciable. However the Manze sound, skill and style (and strictly on period) is unquestionable and after all this cd is a good choice.

P.S. And the recording is a little too resonant too.

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