Honour and gratitude to everyone envolved with this recording. Amen!

You NAILED it with your description of these wonderful pieces. Also by far my favorite baroque instrumental music. People can keep their Brandenburgs, but I'd rather listen to Handel's Op. 6 a hundred times over before listening to the Brandenburgs again. No argument on the "Reference" recording. Beznosiuk with the Avison Ensemble is the recording that "imprinted" on me, but this is a work with a lot of excellent recordings out there.

@davidmathews4524

5 күн бұрын

For me I have had more enjoyment with the karajan With the BPO absolutely Wonderful

Herbert von Karajans recording is the one I started listening to first when I discovered Handel's 12 Concerti Grossi op 6. I came across Sir Neville Marriners recording years later and I personally love both versions, I have both versions on CD in my collection too.

Is there anyone in the universe with Handel's seemingly endless gift for melody? Maybe Dvorak in the romantic era, but in the Baroque era, it's Handel all the way!

I had the same epiphany as you did with these works courtesy of Andrew Manse. I adore them and so much of Hāndel.

Thank you for this! I first heard them in college when my musicology professor insisted we in his seminar listen. Yes, indeed, the heavens opened-and continue to open every time I hear them. Such eternal freshness! 🫶🙏🙏

Agreed. Eminently worthy of reference status. My earliest musical enthusiasms were for Bach and Handel, and Baroque music generally. So when I learned, as a High School student that Handel composed 12 Concerti Grossi, I asked for a complete recording for my birthday. My dear grandmother obliged with the Leppard/ECO recordings, on Mercury here in the USA. Outstanding performances in every way, and truly a rival to Marriner. Leppard seems more expressive to me, though Marriner and his crack ensemble are, as usual impeccably polished and stylish. For modern instruments, I'd say it;s a draw. Thanks, as always, Dave, for your reference recordings series.

@bbailey7818

5 күн бұрын

Leppard for me, too. On Philips when I had the vinyl.

@davidaiken1061

5 күн бұрын

@@bbailey7818 That set was first released in the mid-1960's on the Mercury label. That's when it was hard to get Phillips imports and Mercury, evidently, was marketing some phillips recordings here. Unfortunately the Leppard has been out of print for some time. If you can find it, Phillips had a CD bargain box of all Leppard's Handel recordings (plus the Organ Concertos with different artists). It's a great set, containing all of Handel's orchestral music (give or take a piece or two).

I really like these reference recording videos as they have stimulated me to dig out my old records. Op 3 was originally released on Argo in 1964 and op12 on Decca's wide band label in 1968. In 1971 Decca did us penniless students a favour by reissuing them on their budget Ace of Diamonds label as a compilation, which is the version I have and continue to enjoy.

@alanmillsaps2810

3 күн бұрын

I believe you mean Op. 6, not Op. 12. Marriner's Op. 6 came out in the U.S. in a 3 LP box set on London. I've seen it on three individual Decca SXL LPs, but not in a box set until the reissue compilation with Op. 3 you mention.

If you're more partial to brisker tempi, I recommend Iona Brown's set, made during the 80s with the ASMF on Philips. The articulation is astonishing and the tone is stunning, with great sound as well

@robertkunath1854

4 күн бұрын

I like these very much too!

Dave, you mentioned Harnoncourt adding oboe parts in his recording of the set. Well, here's an excerpt from the booklet accompanying the Marriner set regarding this issue: "Four of the concertos (nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6) also have additional oboe parts, indicated by cues in the autograph scores; presumably these were added by Handel to make full use of the available personnel when he performed the concertos at his own concerts (they are included in the present recording)". And by the way, here's another testimony to the fact that composers of olden times were just glad for any opportunity they had to use a larger, richer ensemble to perform their works.

@DavesClassicalGuide

5 күн бұрын

Yes, you're right! Thank you, I had quite forgotten about that detail, but I will say that Harnoncourt's oboes were notably honkier!

So, Dave, I think it's really overdue that you give us a repertory talk on Handel's Op. 6. I miss 25-minute talks that I can listen to with a glass of wine! I'd really like to know your favorite. I didn't start with Marriner's recording, but I have it now and enjoy it a lot. But my favorite is another version from the 1960s with modern instruments and informed by some knowledge of baroque performance practice: Raymond Leppard's set with the English Chamber Orchestra on Philips. To my ears, they are exceptionally urbane and characterful, and I owe my discovery of them to KZread (though I hunted down the CDs soon thereafter). But my first encounter with Op. 6 was the early HIP performance by Jean-Claude Malgoire, which I got in college on a 3 LP Columbia Odyssey set. They were not great performances, but they made enough of an impression that when my wife allowed me to choose the recessional for our wedding, I selected the hornpipe from Op. 6, No. 7.

I have the recording by the Academy of Ancient Music, Andrew Manze, dir. (Harmonia Mundi). Wonderful music. I also have Handel's complete violin sonatas by Manze, another amazing recording. Both are very serene and interesting.

@philippecassagne3192

5 күн бұрын

I fully agree. Andrew Manze is also my preferred version for these two works.

@DavesClassicalGuide

5 күн бұрын

I agree. They are great.

@neilford99

5 күн бұрын

Me too. I was hooked on that recording. Played it over and over again .

@handelbaroque

5 күн бұрын

Love it too. Whatever Dave may think ( ;) ), I love period instruments more than modern instruments, generally speaking.

Proposal for another instalment in the reference recording series: due to tge enthusiastic recommendations by both your own good self and Jed on Classicstoday, I've just acquired Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's set of Haydn's complete sonatas. I have listened to the first couple of cds - and I feel like having embarked on a journey of true discovery. The recordings live fully up to the 10/10 ratings you both bestowed upon them

I guess I should be embarrassed to admit that I like the Karajan recordings of these. As far as I know they have never been released on CD. They were originally released on 4 separate LPs.

@goonbelly5841

5 күн бұрын

They've been released on CD in one of those giant Karajan boxes. "Karajan's Complete DG Legacy: The 60s"

@tommynielsen7163

5 күн бұрын

Also released separately as a 3 cd box.

A mí la version que mas me gusta, tanto del Op 3 como del Op 6, pese a su antiguedad, es la de Raymond Leppard con la ECO (English Chamber Orchestra), que era ks mejor orquesta de cámara del mundo en esa época, y su grabación del Op 3 tiene la ventajs sobre las otras que viene el Op 3 Nro 4a, que al parecer no fue compuesto por Handel sino por un alumno de éste, pero es tan hermoso. como el resto! Hermosas obras!!!

There’s another lesson: If it’s Handel it’s probably good to great music! Try it.

I still enjoy this version on LP. But the recent Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin is pretty terrific.

Opus 3 was recorded in 1964 and was first released on the Argo label. Opus 6 was recorded in 1968 and was released as a bundle with 3 on Decca Ace of Diamonds around that time.

@fredericmorris2931

5 күн бұрын

I believe Decca acquired Argo sometime in the 60s.

@alanmillsaps2810

3 күн бұрын

The Ace of Diamonds compilation was a re-issue. Opus 6 was originally released on three Decca SXL LPs in England and in a 3 LP box set on London in the U.S.

Do you like the one by Iona Brown, I guess in 1983-ish?

@maudia27

5 күн бұрын

I have the first contact with this beatiful music with this recording - when it was released. How do it compare with the Marriner´s version? Usually I like the Iona Brown's recordings a lot.

You say that this is no longer your favorite performance. What is?

@sleepjar7013

4 күн бұрын

@angreagach Google the piece and you should be able to see Dave’s video of “the best”.

Any chance that the brilliant and musical Dave Hurwitz is related to the brilliant and musical Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz ?

@DavesClassicalGuide

5 күн бұрын

Probably at some point in the distant past, but for all intents and purposes, unfortunately not.

@angreagach

5 күн бұрын

(For those who don't know, that was the wonderful Shari Lewis.)