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CHAN 0600 Front.qxd 9/1/08 11:07 am Page 1 Chan 0600 CHACONNE H ANDEL Concerti grossi, Op. 6 Volume 1 COLLEGIUM MUSICUM 90 Simon Standage CHANDOS early music CHAN 0600 BOOK.qxd 9/1/08 11:16 am Page 2 George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) Concerti grossi, Op. 6, Volume 1 Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 1 12:02 in G major • G-Dur • sol majeur 1 I A tempo giusto – 1:54 AKG 2 II Allegro 1:54 3 III Adagio – 2:36 4 IV Allegro – 2:42 5 V Allegro 2:53 Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 2 11:25 in F major • F-Dur • fa majeur 6 I Andante larghetto – 4:16 7 II Allegro 2:19 8 III Largo – Larghetto andante e piano – 2:35 9 IV Allegro ma non troppo 2:12 Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 3 12:06 George Frideric Handel in E minor • e-Moll • mi mineur 10 I Larghetto – 1:22 11 II Andante – 1:25 12 III Allegro 2:38 13 IV Polonaise: Andante 5:13 14 V Allegro ma non troppo 1:24 2 3 CHAN 0600 BOOK.qxd 9/1/08 11:16 am Page 4 Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 4 10:09 Orchestral personnel in A minor • a-Moll • la mineur violin I Simon Standage* Giovanni Grancino, Milan 1685 15 I Larghetto affettuoso – 2:43 Miles Golding A. Mariani, Pesaro c. 1650 16 II Allegro 2:31 Clare Salaman Thomas Smith, 1760 17 III Largo e piano – 2:21 Lucy Howard Willems, 1663 Diane Terry Jacobus Stainer, 1671 18 IV Allegro 2:30 violin II Micaela Comberti* Fabrizio Senta, Turin c. 1660 Diane Moore English or Flemish, c. 1780 Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 5 15:58 Stephen Bull Anon, Genoese(?) mid-18th century in D major • D-Dur • ré majeur Ann Monnington Michiel de Hoog, 1988, after Amati 1642 19 I [Larghetto e staccato] – 2:06 Timothy Cronin Sebastian Klotz(?), Mittenwald c. 1760 20 II Allegro 2:15 viola Jane Norman English c. 1750 21 III Presto 3:24 Trevor Jones Rowland Ross 1977, after Stradivarius 1680 22 IV Largo – 2:07 Lisa Cochrane David Rubio 1986, after Petrus Peru of Peruvia 1753 23 V Allegro 2:36 cello Jane Coe* Jean Hyacinthe Rottenburgh, Brussels 1753 24 VI Menuet: Un poco larghetto 3:21 Helen Verney Anon, English 1730 TT 62:14 Dominic O’Dell Anon, English 1750 bass Elizabeth Bradley Le Jeune, France 1750 oboe Anthony Robson Keith Rogers & Richard Earle 1993, after Stanesby, Collegium Musicum 90 London c. 1710 Simon Standage James Eastaway Richard Earle 1994, after Stanesby, London c. 1710 bassoon Alastair Mitchell Barbara Stanley 1993, after Rottenburgh c. 1740 theorbo Elizabeth Kenny Klaus Jacobsen, 1991 William Carter Klaus Jacobsen, 1990 harpsichord Nicholas Parle* Adlam/Burnett, after Ruckers c. 1630 James Johnstone Willem Kroesbergen, Utrecht 1972, after an original by Bartolomeo Stephanini, 1694 organ James Johnstone 4-stop chest organ by N.P. Mander Ltd keyboard adviser Maurice Cochrane Pitch A = 415 Hz *concertino group 4 5 CHAN 0600 BOOK.qxd 9/1/08 11:16 am Page 6 remainder of the texture for the tuttis: characterizes the fast movement of the first Handel: Concerti grossi, Op. 6 Nos 1–5 ‘Violin pieces so laid out that each part concerto of the set. Its broadly flowing becomes pre-eminent at times, then taking melody with warm harmonies leads into an an equal share in competition with the Allegro in the relative key of D minor. Here Handel set to work with a remarkable burst as backward-looking. Indeed, Handel’s terms others.’ This was how J.G. Walther described the concertante instruments are much in of energy on what was to be his finest set of of reference are impressively wide, embracing the principle in his dictionary of music, the evidence with the violins pursuing a strongly concertos in the early autumn of 1739. By features both of the Suite and of the Musicalisches Lexicon (1732). imitative course. The following Largo is built the end of October he had finished them Concerto; but it is, above all, the level of The interplay between solo and tutti is upon two contrasting ideas, the first with and, in the following year, the London inspiration, the meticulous craftsmanship highlighted in the second movement Allegro dotted rhythms but the second a gently publisher John Walsh printed them, by and the Handelian stamp which is imprinted where busy semiquaver motives are shared throbbing Larghetto andante e piano. The subscription, as Twelve Grand Concertos on every one of these concertos, that assures between the concertino strands and the bold finale in triple measure begins fugally (Opus 6). These Grand Concertos – the title them of a place alongside Bach’s Brandenburg violins and viola of the tutti. The Adagio, in but, as in the preceding movement, there is a is simply a translation of concerti grossi, the Concertos establishing the high watermark of E minor, contains expressive two-part typically Handelian contrast to be found in Italian term by which Handel himself the baroque concerto. Hand-in-hand with imitative writing for the concertino violins brief episodes which interrupt the flow of the referred to them – are scored for string the wide range of Handel’s musical idioms is ‘in the style of vocal duets of the time’ as the principal thematic idea. orchestra though optional oboe parts to four a rich variety of expressive language eighteenth-century English music historian, of them (Nos 1, 2, 5 and 6) were added developed through his experience in the Charles Burney, observed. After the D major Concerto grosso in E minor, Op. 6 No. 3 some time later. In the sense that they derive theatre, and seeming often to reflect what we close of the Adagio, the fourth movement The opening movement, characterized by a from Corelli’s models, with which Handel know of his own temperament – sometimes returns to the key of G. It is a fugue whose sarabande measure, contrasts episodes for the was thoroughly conversant both from his imperious, sometimes witty, often humorous witty character is apparent both in the concertino group with others for the ripieno. period in Italy (1707–10) and doubtless, and always diverting. music’s structure and in the characteristically The following Andante is fugal and more of from the fact that Corelli’s music was widely mischievous way in which Handel interrupts an orchestral movement in which the admired in England, the Opus 6 concertos Concerto grosso in G major, Op. 6 No. 1 the final restatement of the subject, ending concertino joins forces with the ripieno were old-fashioned for the late 1730s. In According to Handel’s own dating on all but on an unexpected pianissimo. The Concerto strings. A brief Adagio e piano separates this England, however, this was the taste of the one of the twelve concertos comprising his concludes with another Allegro, a light- movement from the Allegro in which the two time and, although Handel’s technique is Opus 6, this work was the first to be hearted gigue in all but name. violins and cello of the concertino have often similar to Corelli’s – his concertino completed. Its scoring conforms with what clearly-defined solo sections. The theme is a group consists of two violins and cello rather had become the conventional concerto grosso Concerto grosso in F major, Op. 6 No. 2 bold one emphasized by its unison opening. than the quartet favoured by Geminiani, for manner, that is, a concertino group of two The opening Andante larghetto introduces an This feature together with its semiquaver instance – in few senses can they be regarded violins and a cello which merges with the altogether gentler spirit than that which figures gives the music an Italian flavour, yet 6 7 CHAN 0600 BOOK.qxd 9/1/08 11:16 am Page 8 the Handelian stamp is, nevertheless, firmly of this music are as characteristically and playful Allegro before Handel rounds off production of the opera shown on BBC2 imprinted on the spirit of the music. The Handelian as any of his grander gestures this particularly warm and open-hearted as part of the BBC’s tercentenary fourth movement, in G major, marked which more readily, perhaps, have lent concerto with a gracefully poised Menuet commemorations of Purcell. Polonaise, is an engaging piece whose themselves to the term. After a half close, with its variations. simple harmonies and drone bass in the comes the final Allegro. Taut, lively and Simon Standage is well known as a specialist ripieno evoke the atmosphere of a pastoral briskly moving in triple time, it brings the © 1997 Nicholas Anderson in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century dance; the music of the concertino sections work to a satisfying close. music. He was a founder member of the provides a lively and inventive contrast Collegium Musicum 90 was jointly founded English Concert, with which he played for with the basic ‘affect’. The Concerto Concerto grosso in D major, Op. 6 No. 5 in 1990 by Simon Standage and Richard many years as soloist and leader and made concludes with another dance-like The opening bars of the Fifth Concerto are Hickox for the historical performance of the many solo recordings, of which the Vivaldi movement, this one in 6/8 measure and arresting, indeed almost a call to order, baroque repertoire and is now established as Four Seasons was nominated for a Grammy often syncopated. before the movement, taken in conjunction one of the foremost groups of its kind. It has Award. He has also made solo recordings with the ensuing Allegro develops into a appeared in Europe and at UK festivals, has with the Academy of Ancient Music, Concerto grosso in A minor, Op.