BaL 15.03.14 - Handel: 12 Concerti Grossi Op.6

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 a.m.
David Vickers surveys recordings of Handel’s Concerti Grossi Op. 6, and makes a personal recommendation.

Available versions:

Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini
Al Ayre Espagnol, Eduardo Lopez Banzo
Avison Ensemble, Pavio Beznosiuk
ASMF, Iona Brown (download)
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Paul Dyer
Arte del Suonatori, Martin Gester
Concentus musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Handel & Haydn Society, Christopher Hogwood
Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon
Academy of Ancient Music, Andrew Manze
ASMF, Sir Neville Marriner
I Musici
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (download)
Boston Baroque, Martin Pearlman
The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
New Bach Collegium Musicum Leipzig/Camerata Romana, Max Pommer (download)
Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter (download)
Collegium Musicum 90, Simon Standage
I Musici de Montreal, Yuli Turovsky
Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, Jan Willen de Vriend

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Personally, I have the Karajan.

[MickyD]

Looking forward to this one very much...I have the Hogwood and the AAM with Richard Egarr, both of which suit me nicely. But it's a shame that both plumped for original versions without oboes...I have a single disc of selections recorded by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra with Koopman...that's great, but such a pity they never did the lot.

[Gordon]

A must listen BaL! Lovely pieces, I got to know them through Supraphon LPs, Slovak CO!! and the Classic Boyd Neel from the early 50s - used extract from No 12 for the Five to Ten programme on Home Service/R4 - who also made a set in 1936 which was Pearl/GEMM. From the list I've got the Pinnock set and the AAM/Manze and the ASMF/Marriner.

I've got these too but suspect they're hors de combat as being unfashionable: Bath Festival/Menuhin, Leppard/ECO.

[PJPJ]

Coincidentally, listened to Boyd Neel [Decca] only yesterday. Lovely playing, and a worthwhile historic listen. Available on Naxos Classical Archives as flac or mp3 from various sellers......

[BBMmk2]

I love these works. I have the Andrew manze but I wouldn't mind getting the Chris Hogwood version!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Manze is superb: great Music, terrific performances, superb sound.

[MickyD]

I love these works. I have the Andrew manze but I wouldn't mind getting the Chris Hogwood version!

I see from the Amazon website that Hogwood's Op.6 and Op.3 have now been remastered and reissued on Avie - can be had for just £17. They are lovely performances, seems like a bargain to me.

[CallMePaul]

Personally, I have the Karajan.

I'd have thought that the main interest in the Karajan recording these days is to hear the maestro playing harpsichord continuo!

I note that most of the modern instrument recordings are download only, which thankfully makes them non-starters for technological dinosaurs like me! These are works I don't currently possess so I will listen with interest. From my experience of other recordings by the artists, I am inclined towards Pinnock and Hogwood, or possibly Standage.

[waldo]

Looking forward to this one very much...I have the Hogwood and the AAM with Richard Egarr, both of which suit me nicely. But it's a shame that both plumped for original versions without oboes...I have a single disc of selections recorded by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra with Koopman...that's great, but such a pity they never did the lot.

I got the Simon Standage/Collegium Musicum 90 set just for the added oboes, but I didn't find they had as much impact as I thought. The sonority is a little richer in places, otherwise no different. I will have to check later on, but I think we are only talking about 3 or 4 out of the 12 which have the oboes, anyway.

Just checked: oboes added only to Nos 1, 2, 5 and 6......

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'd have thought that the main interest in the Karajan recording these days is to hear the maestro playing harpsichord continuo!

I note that most of the modern instrument recordings are download only, which thankfully makes them non-starters for technological dinosaurs like me! These are works I don't currently possess so I will listen with interest. From my experience of other recordings by the artists, I am inclined towards Pinnock and Hogwood, or possibly Standage.

The Karajan has never been available on CD as far as I know. I suppose the Marriner is the non-HiPP choice. Prepare ye the way of the reviewer's sarky comments about it. It isn't fashionable to be be, er, modern.

[LeMartinPecheur]

On CD I have the Manze. Fairy nuff.

And on LP, vols 2 and 3 (no's 5-12) of the Pinnock Archiv set, bought in mint condition from a B'stoke charity shop c1995, but with no sign of vol 1 Always meant to order a shiny new copy of it to complete the set but then those new-fangled CD-thingies got the LPs deleted.

Still haunted by the thought of whoever bought vol 1 rushing back a day or two later to snap up the other two and then kicking himself black and blue because he hadn't bought all three together. So if you are that person, PM me...



...if you're willing to flog me vol 1

[waldo]

The Manze is top-drawer and is bound to be close to the top spot, but the Avison Ensemble are going to take some beating. A sumptuous recording and imaginative playing of the highest order. Also, a very full string sound for a period band.

[Petrushka]

The Karajan has never been available on CD as far as I know.

They're included in the Karajan 1960s box which I have.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Herbert-von-Karajan-Complete-1960s/dp/B007IQWQ88/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1394232736&sr=1-1&keywords=karajan+1960s

[richardfinegold]

I have the Orpheus CO--obtained in the days before downloads--and the Avison Ensemble on SACD. I haven't felt the need to play the Orpheus since the Avison came out. Great performances, full of verve, and truly demonstration type recording.
If you listen to the Linn Internet Radio Station, they are bound to play some excerpts about every 90 minutes or so. That isa great sounding station, btw.