Handel Organ Concertos

[MickyD]

I'd be interested to hear the views of Forumites on these lovely works. I now have three contrasting sets on my shelves - Ton Koopman/Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, which I have loved for many years. Then I got the Richard Egarr/AAM set which is much to my taste too.

A couple of weeks ago I acquired the vintage Herbert Tachezi/Concentus Musicus/Harnoncourt set from the 70s and I am revelling in the colours of that orchestra - it was such a revolutionary recording to those that had been used to the big-boned modern instruments recordings in existence then.

I've never heard the Preston/Pinnock version nor the Nicholson/Brandenburg Consort/Goodman one, the latter possibly being the most HIP of the lot, employing as it does an organ that Handel was known to have played at St. Lawrence, Whitchurch. Nevertheless, the concertos were often played at oratorios in theatres, not in churches, so maybe Tachezi with his small chest organ is closest to Handel's sound.

Any thoughts would be most welcome!

[Pulcinella]

The set I have is really quite bizarre in concept, by today's 'authentic performance' standards.
It's a 3CD CBS (now released on Sony, with extra material, as a 4CD set) box set with E Power Biggs as soloist, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult. It uses the organ in Great Packington, Warwickshire, adjusted to modern pitch by the fitting of 'slides' to the organ pipes. Handel had apparently designed the instrument himself for Charles Jennens, the librettist of Messiah.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Biggs-Plays-Handel-Concertos/dp/B00TQNMC7Q/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JRXS2AET8MTN&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ygSy uir4VmMZVBFL4O8l7SCY0DLkzfM60ddqg7WJKSupF-mFT_3NP9Kza9nBKP3XQ1mrpkx8dwhF5MYlgsSE61ERxc0Th3jE 4-CFYmVe954.XBvvdme6T1fIJUvwsBJrw524yCM1dxTvwWwBNPE8 bY4&dib_tag=se&keywords=Handel+power+biggs&qid=171 9590326&s=music&sprefix=handel+power+biggs%2Cpopul ar%2C78&sr=1-1

[MickyD]

I didn't know about that one and am pretty ignorant about older recordings of these pieces. The comments on the page you sent are interesting and make me want to hear these recordings.

[Pulcinella]

I didn't know about that one and am pretty ignorant about older recordings of these pieces. The comments on the page you sent are interesting and make me want to hear these recordings.

Hope you find you can stream them somehow, Micky.
I'll be interested to read what you make of them.

[MickyD]

Funnily enough, I've found them all on YouTube! And to my surprise, having heard some extracts immediately after the Harnoncourt discs, I found them really very lively. I had been expecting something much stodgier but Adrian Boult really took the tempi in a very sprightly way. A fascinating discovery and don't those 1957 recordings sound great for their age?

[smittims]

MickyD has made a good choice with the Koopman set; it has the virtue of an organ and orchestra just the right size for the music. Three favourites of mine not so far mentioned are George Macolm and Neville Marriner, valuable among other things for Malcolm's wonderful 'ad 'lib' movements interpolated as Handel would have done ; an old Archiv set with Eduard Muller and August Wenzinger (maybe the first to use period instruments) which incorporates the alternative choral finale to op. 4 no. 4, and another early stereo set lited to just the opp. 4 and 7 concertos, by Karl Richter on Decca.

I never tire of listening to these. And how curious that Handel should have written so many organ concertos and everyone else so few!

[MickyD]

You may well be right about the Wenzinger set being the first on period instruments....when was it recorded? I recall another set from the 70s with Daniel Chorzempa and Jaap Schroder. I remember the organ having a lot of action noise!
Having heard the E Power Biggs thanks to Pulcinella, I realise just how well these pieces stand up to a wide range of performance practice.

I would urge anyone to hear the Harnoncourt, it sounds so ahead of its time for 1975.

[Pulcinella]

You may well be right about the Wenzinger set being the first on period instruments....when was it recorded? I recall another set from the 70s with Daniel Chorzempa and Jaap Schroder. I remember the organ having a lot of action noise!
Having heard the E Power Biggs thanks to Pulcinella, I realise just how well these pieces stand up to a wide range of performance practice.

I would urge anyone to hear the Harnoncourt, it sounds so ahead of its time for 1975.

A couple of them even stood up to MY performance practice (one inaugurating a single-manual 3-stop organ with the school orchestra)!

[Master Jacques]

I wouldn't be without any of the four sets I possess, as they're all hugely life-enhancing. Biggs/Boult for its creaky grandeur, Malcolm/Marriner for their sixties sports-car power and pep, Preston/Pinnock - definitely my BaL 'benchmark' choice - for completely satisfying fresh, stylish vitality.

But strangely enough, I'm more likely to turn for one-off listens to the Chorzempa/Schroder set, simply because of its sheer fun. That mechanical noise is part of the pleasure, and the playing is often outrageously 'authentic fair-ground' in style, daring and challenging, in a good way. It doesn't always "work", but gracious, it's alive!

[MickyD]

Master Jacques, is that Chorzempa set on CD ? Interesting to hear how much you like it, I do remember it being very lively.

Has anyone got/heard the Nicholson/Goodman set on Hyperion?

[vinteuil]

Master Jacques, is that Chorzempa set on CD ?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-Organ-Concertos-Nos-11/dp/B000024HY6

.

[vinteuil]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-Organ-Concertos-Nos-11/dp/B000024HY6

.

... tho' I see that there are four CDs of the Chorzempa Handel on pentatone, variously available on presto and amazon/s : I assume 'complete' - more expensive...

I expect I shall have to invest



.

[Mandryka]

I'd be interested to hear the views of Forumites on these lovely works. I now have three contrasting sets on my shelves - Ton Koopman/Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, which I have loved for many years. Then I got the Richard Egarr/AAM set which is much to my taste too.

A couple of weeks ago I acquired the vintage Herbert Tachezi/Concentus Musicus/Harnoncourt set from the 70s and I am revelling in the colours of that orchestra - it was such a revolutionary recording to those that had been used to the big-boned modern instruments recordings in existence then.

I've never heard the Preston/Pinnock version nor the Nicholson/Brandenburg Consort/Goodman one, the latter possibly being the most HIP of the lot, employing as it does an organ that Handel was known to have played at St. Lawrence, Whitchurch. Nevertheless, the concertos were often played at oratorios in theatres, not in churches, so maybe Tachezi with his small chest organ is closest to Handel's sound.

Any thoughts would be most welcome!

I quite like Jeanne Demessieux with Ernest Ansermet.

[MickyD]

... tho' I see that there are four CDs of the Chorzempa Handel on pentatone, variously available on presto and amazon/s : I assume 'complete' - more expensive...

I expect I shall have to invest



.

Quelle surprise !

[vinteuil]

.
... and of course if the organ is a bit much for you - there's always this -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08LJ166K2

.