Al Ayre Español
Trio Sonatas Op. 2
- Type CD
- Label Challenge Classics
- UPC 0608917279726
- Catalog number CC 72797
- Release date 08 March 2019
About the album
Under the title I vanni occulti, ensemble Al Ayre Español, led by maestro Eduardo López Banzo, offers us its personal vision of Handel’s Sonatas Op. 2. The phrase comes from the oratorio Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Disillusion, 1707). The reference to this aria is not anecdotal, because Sonata No. 1 in this Op. 2 contains references to this music — an aspect that, hardly surprisingly, constitutes a characteristic element of the composition technique of the maestro from Halle.
Over the course of his life, Handel composed 20 trio sonatas, 12 of which were published in London in two different collections: six sonatas were published in 1733 as Op. 2 (HWV 386–391) and another seven printed in 1739 as Op. 5 (HWV 396–402). In a disguised allusion to the vanitas allegory and the fleeting passage of time, Al Ayre Español presents, just three years after its recording of Op. 5 [Challenge Classics, CC72663], an introspective version of Op. 2, which completes and, at the same time, complements the group’s first rendition of Handel’s trio sonatas. The two recordings form a single project that offers the listener a passionate and impassioned, southern and Mediterranean version of this exquisite chamber music. This version is marked by the emergence, with particular expressive intensity, of the two aesthetic poles present in the chamber music universe of Handel (and of López Banzo himself): the most contained lyricism combined with the most explosive fury.
-
11Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in B Minor, HWV 386 Andante
04:10 -
12Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in B Minor, HWV 386 Allegro ma non troppo
02:46 -
13Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in B Minor, HWV 386 Largo
02:56 -
14Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in B Minor, HWV 386 Allegro
02:33 -
15Sonata Op. 2 No. 2 in G Minor, HWV 387 Andante
03:06 -
16Sonata Op. 2 No. 2 in G Minor, HWV 387 Allegro
01:10 -
17Sonata Op. 2 No. 2 in G Minor, HWV 387 Largo
02:39 -
18Sonata Op. 2 No. 2 in G Minor, HWV 387 Allegro
01:38 -
19Sonata Op. 2 No. 3 in B-flat Major, HWV 388 Andante
02:43 -
110Sonata Op. 2 No. 3 in B-flat Major, HWV 388 Allegro
02:13 -
111Sonata Op. 2 No. 3 in B-flat Major, HWV 388 Larghetto
03:53 -
112Sonata Op. 2 No. 3 in B-flat Major, HWV 388 Allegro
03:04 -
113Sonata Op. 2 No. 4 in F Major, HWV 389 Larghetto
02:47 -
114Sonata Op. 2 No. 4 in F Major, HWV 389 Allegro
02:44 -
115Sonata Op. 2 No. 4 in F Major, HWV 389 Adagio
03:10 -
116Sonata Op. 2 No. 4 in F Major, HWV 389 Allegro
02:04 -
117Sonata Op. 2 No. 4 in F Major, HWV 389 Allegro
02:32 -
118Sonata Op. 2 No. 5 in G Minor , HWV 390 Larghetto
03:05 -
119Sonata Op. 2 No. 5 in G Minor , HWV 390 Allegro
02:37 -
120Sonata Op. 2 No. 5 in G Minor , HWV 390 Adagio
02:33 -
121Sonata Op. 2 No. 5 in G Minor , HWV 390 Allegro
03:26 -
122Sonata Op. 2 No. 6 in G Minor, HWV 391 Andante
02:21 -
123Sonata Op. 2 No. 6 in G Minor, HWV 391 Allegro
02:01 -
124Sonata Op. 2 No. 6 in G Minor, HWV 391 Arioso
03:07 -
125Sonata Op. 2 No. 6 in G Minor, HWV 391 Allegro
01:43
Caecilia-Concert, Ars Antiqua Austria & Eduardo López Banzo at Early Music Festival Utrecht
23-08-2011
This weekend the annual Early Music Festival in Utrecht starts and there will be Challenge artists performing on different locations.On Sunday August 28th the Caecilia-Concert will perform in VB Leeuwenbergh in Utrecht at 20.00 hours. The trio will play a number of beautiful works by Frescobaldi. About the last cd of the trio, called "Schmelzer & Co" the critics were enthusiastic, take for instance Gramophone: "Intonation is outstanding...and the ...