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Title: Academy of Ancient Music, Richard Egarr – Handel: Organ Concertos Op.4 (2008)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

The scholarly searchlight of indefatigable Richard Egarr now falls on the Handel Organ concertos. These have been astonishingly popular since their inception around 1733 as interlude entertainment in Handel’s lucrative series of oratorios. They were an immediate success. So much so, that even before Handel and his publisher had produced their first edition, a pirated publication was on sale – “spurious” and “mangled” though Handel considered it.
There are dozens of excellent recordings of these concertos, many of them by expert period ensembles. What makes this one different? Well, most strikingly Egar uses a small English portable or chamber organ with only four stops and the sweet tone that English organ builders preferred. “A box of recorders” as Egar so aptly puts it. Not only is this instrument very similar to the one which Handel would have had in the theatre, but it has been tuned in an unequal mean-tone system, as commonplace at the time. This gives it some frisson-making spicy harmonies when it strays into certain keys, an effect Handel was certainly using deliberately. A second point of departure is the ornamentation. Egar listened to a barrel organ of the period with cylinders which had been programmed by John Smith, Jnr, Handel’s assistant and companion for the last 30 years of the composer’s life. They included several of the Op.4 concertos, and he was amazed at the dense ornamentation, with hardly a note untouched. Egar thus practised to produce a natural extempore ornamentation in performances, varying them each time. The result is as delightful and revealing as it is startling at first hearing, if one is used to relatively ‘plain’ performances of the solo part. Given a sumptuous but well-focussed DSD recording by Harmonia Mundi USA, the AAM sounds like a much larger body, so rich is the sound, particularly in the bass. The 5.0 track provides a suitable resonance from St Jude’s Church in London, but avoids the “churchy” atmosphere of many other performances – these concertos were after all performed in a theatre. The strings in particular are never ascerbic or brittle, but quite italianate in sound. Handel made a special effort in scoring the continuo for this work: there is an archlute and guitar in addition to the bass, which itself, rather unusually, has its own part rather than duplicating the cellos at the octave. The recording thus provides a sonorous engine underlining the AAM’s lithe and lyrical strings and winds. Handel’s sixth concerto in B flat major is an adaptation of a former Harp Concerto (delightfully played in the original harp version by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra on their selection from the Organ Concertos – Handel: Organ Concertos – Christian Schmitt). Here, the so-called ‘Alexander’s Feast’ concerto, as scored for harp and lute in the autograph, but no lute part remains. Bill Carter, the archlute player, takes up a baroque guitar and duets with Egarr’s organ part, recalling what must have been a sensational effect for the oratorio audience. In addition, all the violins are muted, with the violas and bass group playing pizzicato. What a master of the orchestra Handel was! Egarr makes the most of this mystic atmosphere by taking the first movement’s delectable tune somewhat slower than normal, although the ear quickly adjusts. Even if you have other recordings of Op.4, including the beautifully restored Chorzempa/Schroeder set, this winningly idiomatic and novel account is highly desirable, in both the loving musicianship and its glowing sonic portrait. Copyright © 2008 John Miller and SA-CD.net

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