Handel - Complete Violin Sonatas / Manze, Egarr [IMPORT]

George Frideric Handel (Artist), Andrew Manze (Artist), Richard Egarr (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 9, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
• ASIN: B00005JSK8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #185,158 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
In his liner notes, Andrew Manze writes that this collection, which includes two single movements--one slow, one fast--represents all of Handel's violin sonatas, but that no one is really sure how many of them he actually wrote. No matter; they all contain wonderful music and have been loved by players and listeners since they were written. Six are well known. Two are unfamiliar, and the second of these, in G major, is quite unlike all the others: two brilliant fast movements separated by a brief, highly dramatic slow recitative. The rest are cast in the customary four-movement form, but they still have extraordinary diversity; no two of them sound alike.

Manze's program is arranged for utmost contrast, and his playing underlines the differences. He is a fabulous violinist with an effortless virtuoso technique and extraordinary bow control. He has at his disposal an incredible variety of articulation, dynamics, and nuance, which he uses to change mood, character, and expression with utmost subtlety and minimal means. He vibrates sparingly but to great tonal and emotional effect; his expressiveness ranges from driving vigor, exuberance, and headlong impetuosity to mournfulness, dramatic intensity, songful lyricism, and serenity. His rhythm is buoyant and flexible and he hesitates on certain significant upbeats in a way that is mischievous but not mannered; his tempi, fast and slow, are judicious and controlled. Both he and his pianist ornament lavishly and imaginatively in a wonderfully spontaneous, improvisatory fashion, especially in slow movements and repeats, often bursting into brilliant runs. This is "authentic" playing in every sense: faithful to the composer, the style, and the performers' passionate feeling for the music. --Edith Eisler

From International Record Review - subscribe now
Every once in a while a recording comes along that takes you by the scruff of the neck and forces you to come face to face with your long-held prejudices. So it is with this latest offering from Andrew Manze. Long ago, Handel's Op. 1 Sonatas ceased to work their magic for me. It has taken an inspirational recording such as this to bring about a reappraisal. And for many other listeners too, I think, this recording will prove a revelation. So often played as though they were music to satisfy a middle-brow, amateur market, Manze takes Handel's sonatas as seriously as he does Bach's. The results are astonishing. This music has never traversed so many emotional planes before. And it's not just a one-man show. Harpsichordist Richard Egarr's virtuoso continuo realizations (without sustaining cello) make for moments of real duetting. The recording itself has marvellous depth and Manze's fiddle (a Joseph Gagliano, built in Naples in 1782) is captured in a gorgeously mellow acoustic somewhere in the middle distance. As the title makes clear, this is a recording of the complete violin sonatas, not the usual run-through of the 12 of Handel's Op. 1. Many of the sonatas from Op. 1 were originally intended for wind instruments and some serious scholarly work has been necessary to weed out the authentic violin sonatas from this and several other sources. In summary, five genuine violin sonatas emerge (in D and G minor and D, G and A major), plus two promising fragments. We get all these, plus three 'rejected' violin sonatas, whose ascription to Handel may now be doubted, but not their outstanding musical quality. In his insert notes Manze tells the story of how the Italian violinist Francesco Geminiani was summoned to play before the King and chose Handel as his accompanist from heaven. It's possible that they played one of Handel's sonatas. 'If the present performers have achieved in any small measure the impossible task of impersonating two of 18th-century London's finest performers', writes Manze, 'then may the listener enjoy playing the King!'. They have, and we listeners are certainly in for a right royal treat. This is the first recording which really discovers the seeds of genius in this music. Quite simply, this is the finest recording of Handel's violin sonatas ever made. Simon Heighes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SCHOLARS NOT PEDANTS, April 28, 2005

By	DAVID BRYSON (Glossop Derbyshire England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Andrew Manze writes nearly as well as he plays. The short essay he provides to accompany this disc is knowledgeable, clear and witty. Handel's instrumental music is a scholars' playground - he left, and very likely kept, no proper catalogue of it, and it falls to specialists to clarify as best they can which compositions going under his name are really his. What the artists here give us is 7 complete sonatas and one that is presumably complete, plus two stranded individual movements. Of the 8 'complete' efforts 5, including the presumed-complete G major, seem to be definitely by Handel. Two sets of 12 'violin' sonatas were published by one Walsh, one under his own name and the other under the pseudonym 'Roger'. The works they contain do not exactly match up, and I would have liked the contents of each plus the contents of this disc laid out as a table so as to be completely clear about the issue. The best piece of all, placed first in this recital, seems to belong in neither edition, and the most original and unusual, placed second, is of doubtful attribution.

The players' style is all-the-way authentic. Full details of the 18th century instruments, plus a fascinating picture of the violin-maker's workshop, are provided on pages 12-13 of the booklet, and Manze goes into the question of the proper constitution of the continuo or accompaniment. I found that I adapted to the sound of the violin within seconds. There's a fair amount of action-noise from the harpsichord, but authentic is authentic, so I adapted to that too. The playing seems to me beyond criticism, full of verve in the fast movements and soul in the slow, and the recorded sound is of the highest modern standard. The works themselves are beautiful and fascinating. I wonder in particular whether Handel wrote the first movement of the F major sonata, and if not who did. It is not only an exceptional piece but decades ahead of its time, as Manze rightly says.

The production is fairly de luxe, containing not only an expensively printed booklet but also a full colour catalogue of Harmonia Mundi's current offerings. The set has won critical acclaim, which I endorse wholeheartedly, and it can be recommended without qualification to all Handelians and indeed to the music-loving public generally.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pure, beautiful tone!, June 30, 2004

By A Customer

The beauty of simplicity. Such clear, beautiful, resonant tone.
(just listen to the first four notes of the F Major!)
It takes my breath away. What a great example of what the violin CAN sound like. His ornamental/improvisational ideas are great to listen to - he certainly isn't just regurgitating the same old Handel sonatas! A refreshingly different take on the sonatas. (I for one am not interested in hearing the same old interpretation one more time!). This is unique and amazing. I'd like to hear more classical artists add their own personal touch in the way that Andrew Manze can.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars baroque and roll!, February 12, 2002

By A Customer

if you've ever been put off by the "miniaturising" approach some times encountered in "authentic" performances, this is the perfect antidote. manze really lays into it where appropriate, but his tone can also fall to a whisper when required - and he's in total command of every shade between.
and don't be put off by the Edith Eisler review: his "pianist" is doing a fine job on the harpsichord!