Concerti grossi Op.3, Sonata a5 (Georg Friedrich Händel)

Album review

Rich and sonorous but robust and strong, Richard Egarr and the Academy of Ancient Music's January 2006 recording of Handel's Concerti grossi, Op. 3, is exemplary Handel playing. The Academy, of course, is long familiar with how to play Handel: it has been performing his music since being founded in England by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973. The group's manner has been familiar to an international audience since a 1982 recording of Messiah. With an 11-piece string section, a six-piece wind section, and a two-piece continuo section, the Academy remains a chamber-sized orchestra in numbers, but a Baroque big band in practice. Led by veteran violinist Pavlo Beznosiuk, the strings are trim but muscular, capable of delicacy as well as gravity. Featuring Rachel Brown as principal flute and recorder and the dulcet oboe pairing of Frank de Bruine and Lars Henriksson, the winds add color, depth, and edge to the strings. Egarr, who has many previous excellent solo and chamber recordings to his credit, shows he can excel as a director, too, with alert tempos, flexible phrasing, and graceful ensemble. With Harmonia Mundi's fresh but warmly textured sound, this disc should be heard by anyone interested in the pieces or the repertoire.
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