Sunday 21 September 2008

It is utterly incredible that I have had to wait until now to listen to the twelve Op 6 Concerti Grossi by Handel. They contain magnificent music! All completely new to me. I confess that I bought my current recording (Concentus Musicus Wien under Nikolaus Harnoncourt) because the 4-CD set was very cheap and thus a good way of investigating the works. But the 30 year old recordings are a bit musty and a bit "early baroque" in sound, so I must find good newer versions. The four Harnoncourt (not my favourite director) CDs also contain Handel's six Op 3 concerto grossi which still await investigation.

Also a very pleasant surprise is Devy Erlih's 1969 recordings of Bach's solo partitas and sonatas; the postman has so far only brought Volume 1. Volume 2 is on its way. Erlih zips through the works at Heifetz-like speed, and his technique is formidable. I enjoyed all three works on this first disc, not least the long first partita that, in most hands, seems to go on for ever with its doubles and repeats after each movement. In the hands of someone like Julia Fischer and even Lisa Batiashvili, the first partita just sends me to sleeep, since its somewhat routine melodic and thematic material really cannot hold the attention for over half an hour. But in Erlih's hands the work zings along, with many of the doubles in quadruple rather than double tempo ... no bad thing. Hard to imagine why a violinist of Erlih's stature was, and remains, completely under the radar. Or why I have had to wait over 67 years to hear Handel's twelve concerti grossi Op 6!


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