Landowska Plays Handel

George Frederick Handel (Composer), Eugene Bigot (Conductor), Wanda Landowska (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Wanda Landowska
• Conductor: Eugene Bigot
• Composer: George Frederick Handel
• Audio CD (February 16, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Pearl
• ASIN: B000000WW7
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,140 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Harp Concerto in B flat major, Op.4/6, HWV 294: 1. Andante allegro

2. Harp Concerto in B flat major, Op.4/6, HWV 294: 2. Larghetto

3. Harp Concerto in B flat major, Op.4/6, HWV 294

4. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.2, No.1 in B flat major, HWV 434: Air and Variations

5. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.7 in G minor, HWV 432: Sarabande and Doubles

6. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.2 in F major, HWV 427: Adagio

7. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.2 in F major, HWV 427: Allegro

8. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.2 in F major, HWV 427: Recitative

9. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.2 in F major, HWV 427: Fuga

10. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.5 in E major ('The Harmonious Blacksmith'), HWV 430: Prelude

11. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.5 in E major ('The Harmonious Blacksmith'), HWV 430: Allemande

12. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.5 in E major ('The Harmonious Blacksmith'), HWV 430: Courante

13. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.5 in E major ('The Harmonious Blacksmith'), HWV 430: Air and Variations ('Harmonious B

14. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.7 in G minor, HWV 432: Overture: Adagio

15. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.7 in G minor, HWV 432: Allegro animato

16. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.7 in G minor, HWV 432: Sarabande

17. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.7 in G minor, HWV 432: Allegro

18. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.7 in G minor, HWV 432: Andante

19. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.7 in G minor, HWV 432: Gigue

20. Suite for keyboard (Suite de piece), Vol.1, No.7 in G minor, HWV 432: Passacaille

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Music is what lies between the notes., April 30, 2001

By 

John Austin "[e-mail]" (Kangaroo Ground, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Landowska Plays Handel (Audio CD)

All the Handel items Landowska recorded in Paris during the 1930s are transferred onto this well-filled CD. There is also a 1950 performance, recorded live, duplicating the Sarabande from the Suite No 7. Shoppers familiar with the work of this diminutive, dynamic, creative musician will find plenty to enjoy here, and need only be warned to expect a few clicks and pops deriving, apparently, from the "loaned" copies from which the transfers were made.

Those unfamiliar with this remarkable personality will hear music making that is likely to fascinate and/or repel. Fascinating is the rhythmic buoyancy of some of the dance movements, the grand declamatory style used for some of the allemandes, and a clearer articulation than can usually be produced by a harpsichord. Offence might be given by the excessive changes of registration (obtrusive during a descending left hand scale in the Menuetto of the D Minor Suite), the frequent use of a booming sixteen foot tone, and the reprise of an "air" following its set of variations. Justification might be provided by explaining that Landowska's mission in the early C20th was to revive the long-forgotten harpsichord repertoire.

The concerto, recorded in 1937 not 1935 as listed in the notes, is one of Handel's Op 6 set. In 1937 it was thought to be the exclusive domain of organ soloists, with orchestral support. Nowadays, it and several other of Handel's "organ" concerti are sometimes allocated to harpsichord and orchestra. This one is also heard in performance nowadays for lute, harp and orchestra. There appears to be good historic grounds for all these variants.

Although an erudite scholar as well as performer, Landowska may not always have had good historic grounds for whatever she did, but her playing always seemed vital, ably demonstrating her maxim, "Music is what lies between the notes".