The Harmonious
Handel
£12.00
Description:
CDs are by far the best way to listen to classical music. The sound is optimal, you have a physical
item to treasure, and the booklet provides insights into the music, to maximise your enjoyment.
I will always continue to offer my recordings in this format.
Nevertheless, times are hard and things are competitive, so this new recording is at a lower price.
Reviews:
Review from American Record Guide (March/April 2025)
This project is akin to Colin Booth’s splendid album of assorted pieces by Bach, “Bach At Home”, imagining the composer playing harpsichord at home for enjoyment or to rehearse organ pieces (Nov/Dec 2023). This time, his subject is the young “Harmonious Handel”.
As is usual for Booth’s publications, this is a fine blend between direct entertainment and pedagogical value. True to his publishing formula, he includes thoughtful essays about his interpretive decisions and the historical context of the music. He traces Handel’s career as a young German-speaking keyboardist, eventually settling on theatrical and compositional jobs that paid better than his keyboard skills alone.
Sharing his affection for the music, Booth takes us through Handel’s tidbits of keyboard pieces that he wrote before age 35. Most of these short pieces are hard to find in other recordings. He suggests modern editions where we can find these rarities and play them ourselves. This is inspiring. I have been playing some books of Handel’s pieces for most of my life, but I didn’t know most of these selections. The `Carillon’ at the beginning of the program is especially memorable.
From Handel’s published set of 8 suites he plays the one in E that has the Harmonious Blacksmith variations. He refers to an article that he wrote in 2015-16, analyzing the correct metrical way to emphasize the harmony in these variations. He demonstrates how well it works, and how it sounds different from what we typically hear from this piece.
The other suites and miscellaneous pieces are a more informal assemblage, mostly surviving in manuscripts or corrupt editions in Handel’s lifetime. In playing and writing about these pieces, Booth emphasizes the importance of improvisation. He describes also the flexibility of omitting some sections or some movements—a typical everyday Baroque practice of adapting a composer’s work to fit an occasion or one’s own preferences.
The instrument is a two-manual harpsichord in French style that Booth built in 2016. He has chosen a published tuning system from about 90 years after the compositions, but it sounds fine.