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The Unknown Handel

Jed Wentz / Musica Ad Rhenum

The Unknown Handel

Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917201529
Catnr: CC 72015
Release date: 01 January 1997
1 CD
 
Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917201529
Catalogue number
CC 72015
Release date
01 January 1997
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL

About the album

Sonata in G minor, HWV 404

The manuscript of this sonata is held in the British Library. Scored for oboe and violin or two violins, it bears the inscription "Compos'd at the Age of 14." If such is the case, it would make one of the earliest of Handel's known works. The style, which is very much that of the Corellian trio sonata, certainly points to an early work. It is cast in four brief movements. The first is a gracious, flowing Andante whose thematic material bears a strong resemblance to the trio "The Flocks Shall Come" from Acis and Galatea. The succeeding Allegro is, typically for such a work, a fugue. That is followed by an expressive Largo and the work concludes with a lively Allegro. It was published by London publisher John Walsh around 1730 as the second of Six Sonatas, Op. 2.

Concerto in G minor, HWV 287

A handful of George Frideric Handel's instrumental works have at one time or another been known as "Oboe Concertos," including -- quite erroneously -- the entire volume of Opus 3 Concerti grossi, but in fact Handel composed just three works that deserve the title. As it happened, the first of these three true oboe concertos to be composed, the charming little Oboe Concerto in G minor, HWV 287 that Handel wrote sometime around 1703 while still a young man living in Hamburg, was also the last to be published (it didn't see the light of day until 1863, over a century and a half after Handel wrote it), and as a result it is somewhat unfairly known as "No. 3."
The solo concerto genre was an almost brand-new thing in music when Handel wrote the G minor Oboe Concerto. The earliest known solo concertos, a pair of works in Giuseppe Torelli's Opus 6, were published in 1698, but there is no real need to assume that the Bolognese composer's work was particularly well-known as far north as Hamburg or that Handel was familiar with these early examples of the newborn musical species. Certainly Handel's G minor Oboe Concerto bears little formal resemblence to the early solo concertos of Torelli or Albinoni (who published four solo concertos in 1700), and in fact it seems a little old fashioned in comparison with those cutting-edge concertos. Torelli chose not to draw on the then-standard four-movement concerto grosso/sonata da chiesa form when putting together their solo works, but rather to adopt the more "modern" three-movement blueprint that we today recognize as the solo concerto norm. Handel's choice to write the HWV 287 Oboe Concerto in four movements, slow-fast-slow-fast, may well demonstrate how difficult it was for a North German musician like Handel to keep in touch with the latest Italian developments (Handel in fact moved to Italy just a few years later). On the other hand, Handel also used four-movement patterns in most of the much-later organ concertos, so it may simply be that he never thought of the one as "old" and the other as "new."
Today, however, such stylistic nitpicking seems rather unimportant. What is vital is that the G minor Oboe Concerto delivers some of the more thoroughly engaging solo music to appear anywhere in Europe during the first years of the new century; Handel's genius for rich, sonorous beauty and lean musical structures is in full bloom even at the age of eighteen or nineteen, if perhaps his ability as a melodist is not yet really developed.
The Concerto is scored for the usual Baroque orchestra of strings and basso continuo. The broad oboe tune of the first movement (an idea right in the sonata da chiesa vein), Grave, is introduced by a ritornello-like, dotted-rhythm filled passage for just orchestra that reappears twice as the movement unfolds--once to mark the move to B flat major at the movement's center, and then again to wrap things up at the very end. In the brief Allegro that follows the oboist starts things up itself, offering a firmly articulated subject that soon tumbles forth in somewhat more virtuosic fashion. The sarabande in B flat major that serves as the Concerto's third movement is warm and gentle, the final Allegro bold and extrovert, with ample opportunities for the oboist to shine.
De onbekende kant van Händel
Dit album bevat een aantal minder bekende werken van Händel, uitgevoerd door Musica Ad Rhenum onder leiding van Jed Wentz.

Het manuscript van de Sonate in G klein HWV 404 draagt de inscriptie: ‘Compos’d at the Age of 14’. Als dit klopt, is dit een van Händels eerste werken. De stijl, die erg lijkt op die van de triosonates van Corelli, geeft aan dat het om een vroege compositie gaat. Het stuk bestaat uit vier korte delen.

Händel heeft slechts drie hoboconcerten gecomponeerd. Een daarvan is het Concerto in G klein HWV 287, dat rond 1703 gecomponeerd is. In die periode leefde Händel nog in Hamburg, en was het soloconcert nog een nieuw genre. Händels werk lijkt niet op de vroege Italiaanse soloconcerten van Torelli en Albinoni. Vergeleken met hun vernieuwende concerten klinkt dat van Händel ouderwets, maar dat is niet zo belangrijk. Wat wel van belang is, is dat het hoboconcert de meest aantrekkelijke solomuziek van zijn tijd bevat. Het concert maakt duidelijk dat Händels begaafdheid voor het creëren van prachtige rijke klanken en dunne muzikale structuren al op achttien- of negentienjarige leeftijd tot volle bloei is gekomen.

Artist(s)

Jed Wentz

Jed Wentz graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Robert Willoughby. He continued his studies with Barthold Kuijken at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, receiving a Soloist Diploma in 1985. In 1987 he joined Musica Antiqua Köln. In 1992 he founded the early music ensemble Musica ad Rhenum, a group devoted to the application of information from original sources in order to recreate the virtuosic and expressive perfomances of the 18th century. Jed Wentz communicates his musicological discoveries not only through his performances, but also in lectures and articles. He teaches at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam.
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Jed Wentz graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Robert Willoughby. He continued his studies with Barthold Kuijken at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, receiving a Soloist Diploma in 1985. In 1987 he joined Musica Antiqua Köln. In 1992 he founded the early music ensemble Musica ad Rhenum, a group devoted to the application of information from original sources in order to recreate the virtuosic and expressive perfomances of the 18th century. Jed Wentz communicates his musicological discoveries not only through his performances, but also in lectures and articles.
He teaches at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam.

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Anton Steck

Steck began studying the modern violin with Jörg-Wolfgang Jahn in Karlsruhe and the baroque violin with Reinhard Goebel in Cologne. After his studies he served as concertmaster for Musica Antiqua Köln and the French ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski. With these ensembles he gave concerts worldwide and has participated in more than thirty album recordings. In 1996 he co-founded the Schuppanzigh Quartet, where he was first violinist. From 2005 to 2008 he was concertmaster of Concerto Köln. In 1997 he made his conducting début with the Handel Festival Orchestra Halle, where he has been artistic director since 1999. His repertoire ranges from early Baroque to the sonatas and violin concertos of Louis Spohr. The recording of the Sonatas KV 55-60 by Mozart and...
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Steck began studying the modern violin with Jörg-Wolfgang Jahn in Karlsruhe and the baroque violin with Reinhard Goebel in Cologne. After his studies he served as concertmaster for Musica Antiqua Köln and the French ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski. With these ensembles he gave concerts worldwide and has participated in more than thirty album recordings. In 1996 he co-founded the Schuppanzigh Quartet, where he was first violinist. From 2005 to 2008 he was concertmaster of Concerto Köln. In 1997 he made his conducting début with the Handel Festival Orchestra Halle, where he has been artistic director since 1999.

His repertoire ranges from early Baroque to the sonatas and violin concertos of Louis Spohr. The recording of the Sonatas KV 55-60 by Mozart and sonatas by Johann Georg Pisendel been awarded several international record prizes.

Steck, since 2000, is professor of baroque violin and conductor of the Baroque Orchestra of the National Academy of Music Trossingen. He is married to Marieke Spaans who also teaches at the Musikhochschule Trossingen.
Steck plays a Jakob Stainer violin from 1658 and a Alessandro Gagliono from 1701. In 2011, Steck was a judge at the MAFestival in Bruges.


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Musica ad Rhenum

Musica ad Rhenum, founded in 1991 by a group of enthusiastic young musicians specialized in the performance of 17th- and 18th-century music on period instruments, has performed for radio, television and in concerts throughout Europe as well as in festivals in Spain, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Brazil and Argentina. The group's name - latin for Music on the Rhine - reflects the determination of its members to combine the latest musicological research and playing styles associated with the Rhenish cities Basel and Cologne with their own vision of authentic Baroque performance practice.  The ensemble's emphasis on musicological research, however, does not exclude the element of personal expression from their playing style.  As one reviewer put it: “Musica ad Rhenum is more than just...
more
Musica ad Rhenum, founded in 1991 by a group of enthusiastic young musicians specialized in the performance of 17th- and 18th-century music on period instruments, has performed for radio, television and in concerts throughout Europe as well as in festivals in Spain, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Brazil and Argentina. The group's name - latin for Music on the Rhine - reflects the determination of its members to combine the latest musicological research and playing styles associated with the Rhenish cities Basel and Cologne with their own vision of authentic Baroque performance practice. The ensemble's emphasis on musicological research, however, does not exclude the element of personal expression from their playing style. As one reviewer put it: “Musica ad Rhenum is more than just a musicological experiment. The results of research express themselves in joyful and convincing performances full of swager and daring”.
In thus combining musicology and personal inspiration to achieve a moving musical experience, the musicians of Musica ad Rhenum are following the advice of the English poet Dryden, who, in his Essay on Dramatic Poesy (1684) wrote that art should be follow nature, not slavishly on foot, but rather, with unbridled imagination and fantasy, mounted on the back of winged Pegasus.
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Composer(s)

Georg Friedrich Händel

Georg Frideric Handel was a composer from the Baroque period. Handel wrote primarily music-dramatic works: 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, which comes to a total amount of almost 2000 arias! Furthermore, he composed English, Italian and Latin sacred music, serenades and odes. Among his instrumental music are several organ concertos, concerti grossi, overtures, oboe sonatas and violinsonates, along with many solo works for harpsichord and organ.  Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today.  Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann...
more

Georg Frideric Handel was a composer from the Baroque period. Handel wrote primarily music-dramatic works: 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, which comes to a total amount of almost 2000 arias! Furthermore, he composed English, Italian and Latin sacred music, serenades and odes. Among his instrumental music are several organ concertos, concerti grossi, overtures, oboe sonatas and violinsonates, along with many solo works for harpsichord and organ.

Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today.

Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann and Scarlatti, Handel was by far the most cosmopolitan. When Handel was a child, his father, who was a surgeon at the court of Saxe-Weissenfels, imagined a juridical career for him. But his musical talents did not go unnoticed at the court, which forced the father to let him study music. In Hamburg, Handel befriended Mattheson. Together they visited Buxtehude, the greatest organ player of his time, in 1703 (two years before Bach did). At that time, Handel was already an excellent musician, but it wasn't until his stay in Italy - the land of opera - that his talents and skills truly started to flourish. Back in Germany, he received a position at the court of Hannover, where the noblemen had a connection to the British throne. Thanks to these connections, Handel decided to move to London, after which a puzzling history of intrigues and political games started. For example, it is unclear what the exact political message of his famous Water Music is, which was composed for a boat ride on the river Thames by King George. Initially, Handel focused on Italian opera during his stay in London, but from the 1730s onwards he started composing English spoken oratorios, with the celebrated Messiah at its peak.


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Press

Play album Play album
01.
Concerto in G major, HWV 299: Allegro - a tempo ordinario - piu allegro
06:13
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
02.
Concerto in G major, HWV 299: Passacaille
04:23
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
03.
Concerto in G major, HWV 299: Gigue I
01:03
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
04.
Concerto in G major, HWV 299: Menuet
02:35
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
05.
Sonata in G minor, HWV 404: Andante
04:14
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
06.
Sonata in G minor, HWV 404: Allegro
01:42
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
07.
Sonata in G minor, HWV 404: Adagio
01:14
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
08.
Sonata in G minor, HWV 404: Allegro
02:31
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
09.
Concerto in B-flat major, HWV 288: Andante
03:09
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
10.
Concerto in B-flat major, HWV 288: Adagio
01:58
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
11.
Concerto in B-flat major, HWV 288: Allegro
03:12
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
12.
Concerto in G minor, HWV 287: Grave
03:11
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
13.
Concerto in G minor, HWV 287: Allegro
01:43
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
14.
Concerto in G minor, HWV 287: Sarabande
02:03
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
15.
Concerto in G minor, HWV 287: Allegro
01:59
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
16.
Sinfonia in B-flat major, HWV 339: Allegro
03:19
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
17.
Sinfonia in B-flat major, HWV 339: Adagio
04:03
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
18.
Sinfonia in B-flat major, HWV 339: Allegro
01:57
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
19.
Concerto quattro in D minor: Adagio
02:42
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
20.
Concerto quattro in D minor: Allegro
01:31
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
21.
Concerto quattro in D minor: Largo
01:34
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
22.
Concerto quattro in D minor: Allegro
02:46
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
23.
Concerto in G minor, HWV 390: Adagio
03:14
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
24.
Concerto in G minor, HWV 390: Allegro
02:40
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
25.
Concerto in G minor, HWV 390: Largo
01:56
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
26.
Concerto in G minor, HWV 390: Allegro
03:26
(George Frideric Handel) Jed Wentz, Musica ad Rhenum
show all tracks

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