GF Handel Op. 2 Trio Sonatas London Handel Players Rachel Brown flute & recorder Adrian Butterfield & Oliver Webber violins Katherine Sharman cello Laurence Cummings harpsichord Sonata No1 in B minor Sonata No2 in G minor Sonata No3 in B flat Sonata No4 in F Sonata No5 in G minor Sonata No6 in G minor Producer: Siva Oke Recording Engineer: Ben Connellan Location: St Mary’s Church, Walthamstow, London 27-29 November 2007 SOMMCD 084 DDD £12 plus postage and packing £1.50 (UK), £4 (Europe and overseas)
The London Handel Players have already served their eponymous master admirably in the Op.5 Trio Sonatas. Now they turn their gaze on a set more likely cobbled together by the wily publisher John Walsh - plundering a cache of music from Handel's 'Chandos' years, as well as a piece 'Compos'd' - if the librettist of Messiah is to be believed - 'at the age of 14'. There's inevitably a stylistic and qualitative unevenness, but Walsh contrived an attractive collection - already persuasively recorded by Sonnerie and (in a bargain box of the 'complete' chamber music on Brilliant Classics), L'Ecole d'Orphée. What the London Handel Players bring to the table is a crystal-clear recorded sound which lends a thrilling immediacy to textures which themselves are always elegantly enunciated. Sonatas nos.1 and 4 benefit from the expressive eloquence of Rachel Brown's flute, and in the opening Andante of the B minor, she and Adrian Butterfield converse with flirtatious suppleness - the ravishing Largo her chance to soar like a Handelian operatic diva. The chattering animation of No.2's first Allegro fingers Buxtehude; mindful of other backward glances in the sonata the Players ornament accordingly, and they give the Finale a pugnacious presence to compensate for its lack of compositional sophistication. The Sixth Sonata receives a slightly austere reading, but, tenderness to contrapuntal trenchancy, London Handel Players tick most of Op.2's multifaceted boxes - and then some. Paul Riley, BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 09 (Handel Trio Sonatas Op.2) The London Handel Players' recording of the first of their namesake's two published sets of trio sonatas differs from rival versions in mixing up the scoring, though not as much as the cover promises: Rachel Brown is credited with playing flute and recorder (and indeed is pictured on the cover holding both instruments) but, unless my ears have deceived me, there is no recorder to be heard here. Never mind though - her contribution in Sonatas Nos 1 and 4 is a delight. It cannot be denied that what should be an equal relationship between treble instruments in a trio sonata texture is knocked a little off-balance when the pairing is flute and violin (one's ear is always drawn to the flute), but when the playing is as gently breathed and musically refined as the kind Brown has to offer, there can be no reason for complaint. The First Sonata in particular emerges here with a Gallic exquisiteness of gesture to match that of a Couperin or a Marais. The remaining sonatas are given the more conventional two-violin treatment, and sound well on it too. Adrian Butterfield and Oliver Webber do not have the lyrical grace of Sonnerie, but there is perhaps more clarity of texture here, and their playing is stylistically confident, with plenty of intelligent interpretative detail to entertain the ear. The continuo section manages to be both punchy and resonant - a bold sense of line from Katherine Sharman, rich chords from Laurence Cummings - and the pair are not afraid to take centre stage when the time comes to stride around like pocket-Polyphemuses in the Larghetto of the Third Sonata. These are fine performances from players who really know their ground. Lindsay Kemp, Gramophone, July 09 (Handel Trio Sonatas Op.2)		"In September 2005, I was much taken with a recording of Handel's Trio Sonatas, Op.5 from this same source. Now, the London Handel Players, with exactly the same recording team, in the identical venue, have come up with equally delectable results in a further set of Trio Sonatas, this time known as the composer's Op.2. Adrian Butterfield, violinist with the London Handel Players, supplies an excellent note with this recording, in which he makes it plain that the 24 movements making up Op.2 were very likely written at widely different times in Handel's life. He adds that the fact that many of them exist in other shapes and guises only contributes to the confusion, as it is often hard to know which came first, the Handelian chicken or the Walshian egg! There are adaptations or parodies here of, for instance, the operas Rodelinda and Rinaldo, the oratorio Esther and at least one Chandos Anthem: in his way, Handel was as much of a borrower as Bach. Maybe none of that matters, in the face of such delightful music as results, whether it was pressure of time or some other form of expediency. From the moment Rachel Brown's delicately warbling wooden flute begins the pastoral Andante that opens the B minor Sonata that is first on the disc, one simply surrenders. Ben Connellan, the recording engineer, conjures the ideal sound from the church in Walthamstow that is the chosen location. The performers take some eminently sensible decisions about what instruments to use from the available options (flute or recorder or a second violin, above the continuo line) depending on lay-out, suitability, the need for a little variety, and so on. Cadential points are embellished with always suitable decorum. The low pitch adds an indefinably touching quality of gentleness. The single manual harpsichord is properly perceived as a quiet instrument - it so often isn't, when recorded - and the balance between the instruments is impeccable. Everywhere there are things to enjoy, with some especial moments of Handel's magic wand: the touching Largo from the G minor Sonata No.2; the chaconne-like Larghetto from the B flat Sonata No.3; the wit of the final Allegro from No.4 in F. I could go on. I won't. Lovers of Handelian affettuoso in particular need not hesitate." Piers Burton-Page, International Record Review, May 09 (Handel Trio Sonatas Op.2)

GF Handel Silla An opera in 3 Acts by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) First public performance in Britain "The performance was first-rate. Denys Darlow and his London Handel Orchestra were on fine form." Rodney Milnes, The Times, April 2000 London Handel Orchestra Denys Darlow conductor Adrian Butterfield leader James Bowman Silla Joanne Lunn Lepido Simon Baker Claudio Rachel Nicholls Metella Natasha Marsh Flavia Elizabeth Cragg Celia Christopher Dixon Il Dio The performance took place in the Concert Hall of the Royal College of Music, London, SW7 on 11 April 2000 at 7pm. Producer: Siva Oke, SOMM Recordings Recording Engineer: Annabel Connellan of RCM Studios. The CD is sold as a 2-CD boxed set - £16 per boxed set, plus postage and packing as follows: £1 - UK £2 - Europe £3 - Rest of the world SOMM catalogue number: SOMMCD 227-8

How to order If you would like to order copies of any of the above please email, fax or post your order to: London Handel Society Horton House 8 Ditton Street Ilminster Somerset TA19 0BQ Tel/Fax: 01460 53500 Email: click here to email Other recordings Handel Aminta e Fillide — Hyperion CDA 66118 Handel The Triumph of Time and Truth — Hyperion CDA 66071/2