Handel: Piano Concertos op. 7 (w oryginale koncerty organowe)

Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, Kirschnereit, Matthias, Skou Larsen, Lavard

CPO 777 855-2

We are now finally presenting to you our last CD featuring Handel's organ concertos in the version for piano and orchestra. The positive response to our first two CDs in this series has shown that the transfer of the solo part of Handel's organ concertos to today's piano is a logical and obvious move. Johann Sebastian Bach's harpsichord concertos belong to the standard repertoire of all world-class pianists, and the same principle truly applies to Handel. On our third CD the pianist Matthias Kirschnereit turns to the Organ Concertos op. 7 of 1761. These six concertos were all uniformly scored with two oboes, string orchestra, and a bass fortified by a bassoon. Now and again Handel skillfully prescribed these instruments in order to produce richly varied sound effects. John Christopher Smith, Handel's copyist and assistant, first compiled this collection after the composer's death – which means that these works, unlike the Six Concertos op. 4 (1738, 24211387) and some other »Concertos for Harpsichord or Organ« (Nos. 13-16, 23126676), cannot claim absolute authenticity. Given the great musical quality of these compositions, however, this is no reason to keep us from listening to this music as fully valid music by Handel. Some of these works display extremely enthralling harmonic modulations and rhythmic variants. They are examples of Handel's superior inspiration and interpreted with just as much inspiration by Matthias Kirschnereit.

SACD x 1

CPO

5.07.2016

761203785520