My late and great harpsichord teacher Gustav Leonhardt hated Handel, and has stated so many times in print. He claimed Handel was incapable of writing a fugue — how utterly wrong he was! The great choral fugues in his Oratorios prove this, and in this program of his more ‘private’ music, you will hear two extraordinary keyboard fugues which I dished up for strings. The string trio sonata was also a form that inspired Handel to create some mini masterpieces throughout his life. The Op. 2 No. 6 trio sonata is reportedly one of his earliest works written in his early 20s in Rome — what fabulous and colorful stuff … with great fugal writing! The later trio Op. 5 No. 2 is full of great character pieces and could be a mini opera! The trio sonata Op.5 No.4 is here given with an added viola part lovingly gleaned from other ‘orchestral’ versions of this music.
So enjoy Handel ‘at home’ in his passionate front room!
—Richard
featuring
CARLA MOORE, violin
ANTHONY MARTIN, violin
MARIA CASWELL, viola
PAUL HALE, cello
KRISTIN ZOERNIG, bass
JORY VINIKOUR, harpsichord
Harpsichord generously provided by Peter and Cynthia Hibbard.