Handel; CotW, 29/1 - 2/2/18

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Beethoven last week - and his favourite composer next Concentrating on the near half-century of the composer's years in London.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09plgsl

( And it looks as if there won't be a "guest" telling us we can hear Handel's financial worries expressed in his use of fugues. )

[LeMartinPecheur]

Isn't that an unusually long week, 19/1 - 2/2/18? Still, perhaps GFH earns it by writing rather a lot of long works?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

[doversoul1]

Bump.

[doversoul1]

There was nothing very new information-wise but there is always something new in Handel’s music (to me) which is always enjoyable although I can’t get too excited about his English Oratorios.

Takemitsu next week

[ardcarp]

his English Oratorios

Not Athelia? Some lovely music in there. Also, Israel in Egypt is a good romp, with a much higher ratio of chorus to solos. Good for choirs, especially if they can muster eight parts.

[MickyD]

Folk usually wax very lyrical about Theodora...I don't have a recording of it and feel I must rectify that at some point. But I am like ds, I find it difficult to get as excited over the oratorios as I do over the fabulous operas.

[Constantbee]

Somehow got myself on the mailing list for a holiday company specialising in cultural tours. Certainly not the sort we can afford, but it’s nice to dream and their itineraries can sometimes be adapted for the independent traveller. They’re offering a one day ‘Handel in London’ tour this year, visiting sites associated with the composer, and culminating in a performance of Rinaldo at The Barbican. Very nice too – if you’ve got the stamina. So, I thought I’d have a go at planning my own budget walking tour.

10:00 Start at Green Park tube station. Pause at Burlington House in Piccadilly, Handel’s address in 1713. Cut through Mayfair via Berkeley Square to reach the Handel and Hendrix museum in Brook Street. A short stroll across New Bond Street to Hanover Square and pop into St Georges, Handel’s parish church. Cross over Regent Street and head south for the Haymarket for Her Majesty’s Theatre, formerly The King’s Theatre, the site of several Handel premiers, including Rinaldo.

12:30 Time for a packed lunch in Trafalgar Square?

13:00 Continue north up St Martins Lane and hanger right for Covent Garden and the Royal Opera House, in Handel’s times called The Theatre Royal, another premier venue. Head north up Southampton Row for Bloomsbury and the Foundling Museum at Brunswick Street. You'll probably need to take the bus, by now.

14:00 Foundling Museum. LOTS of Handel interest here, and if you pick the right day you’ll get a FREE talk, but you'd have to have booked for that.

15:00 Collapse exhausted, give in and hail a cab to the station. Listen to Rinaldo on your phone on the way home.

Cost? Well, certainly a lot less than the brochure.

And there's more. The ROH website has got a good summary of Handel's London, with more detailed information and extended routes for another day:

http://www.roh.org.uk/news/a-trip-around-handels-london

[vinteuil]

Somehow got myself on the mailing list for a holiday company specialising in cultural tours. Certainly not the sort we can afford, but it’s nice to dream and their itineraries can sometimes be adapted for the independent traveller. They’re offering a one day ‘Handel in London’ tour this year / ... /

Cost? Well, certainly a lot less than the brochure.

... I should coco!

https://www.martinrandall.com/handel-in-london

.

[MickyD]

Wow, £265 and it's only an afternoon and a concert performance of 'Rinaldo'!

[vinteuil]

Folk usually wax very lyrical about Theodora...I don't have a recording of it and feel I must rectify that at some point. But I am like ds, I find it difficult to get as excited over the oratorios as I do over the fabulous operas.

... have just taken delivery of the recent Christophers / Sixteen Jephtha

http://amzn.eu/aJjoptD

I think you would love it...


.

[MickyD]

Thanks, Vints...I have the old Harnoncourt set, but am sure your latest recommendation is a step up from that.

[BBMmk2]

That Jeptha is something else! I have JEGGERS and I thought that was rather good until I heard Harry Christophers’s recording!

I have a Paul McCreesh’s set, of Theodora. Certainly a splendid set! Well worth getting. I have it as part of tat marvellous box set called Handel The Great Oratorios. If you can buy it!

[Constantbee]

... I should coco!

https://www.martinrandall.com/handel-in-london

.

That's the one! Well spotted, Vinteuil

Have been wondering whether Handel operas on dvd might be worth watching. This is not a subject I know much about but they look accessible enough. I'd be inclined to start with one of the Glyndebourne selections by Opus Arte. Saul perhaps.

Thanks all for recomendations btw Jephtha does sound good.

[doversoul1]

That's the one! Well spotted, Vinteuil

Have been wondering whether Handel operas on dvd might be worth watching. This is not a subject I know much about but they look accessible enough. I'd be inclined to start with one of the Glyndebourne selections by Opus Arte. Saul perhaps.

Thanks all for recomendations btw Jephtha does sound good.

Handel’s operas (and Rameau’s too) when staged often get so messed up (to me, that is) I find it much more enjoyable just listening to good recordings (Go to Alan Curtis ) However, I don’t ever get tired of watching this Alcina. I don’t think the principle works so well with Tamerlano for some reasons.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/George-Frideric-Handel-Alcina-Tamerlano/dp/B01M0RRHU8/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_74_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=P0VWZB1Q0HH1KG88RWWZ

samples;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW8gXBf6PAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PobXNh2gt1Y

This production came out at about the same time and I thought it really highlighted the different approaches (I did not like this at all)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-Alcina-Aix-Provence-Blu-ray/dp/B01DOOPT72/ref=pd_cp_74_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=N7CPV69KAZ0SRK2YM0QB

a sample

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uv5YbetNOs