Composer: George Frideric Handel
Performer: Genevieve Soly
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Analekta
Size: 1.07 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Chaconne in G major, HWV 435a
Sonata del Signor Hendel in F major, HWV 427a
02. Adagio
03. Allegro
04. Allegro
05. Adagio
06. Fuga
07. Suite in C major, HWV 44. Sarabande
08. Suite in C major, HWV 443. Gigue
09. Sonata in G major, HWV 579
10. Partita in G major, GWV 145. Marche
Suite in B flat major, HWV 434
11. Prelude
12. Sonata
13. Air
14. Variation 1
15. Variation 2
16. Variation 3
17. Variation 4
18. Variation 5
Suite in B flat major, HWV 440
19. Allemande
20. Courante
21. Sarabande
22. Gigue
Good, enjoyable album of music from the “Darmstadt Harpsichord Book”
This album features 7 works for harpsichord, 6 of which are taken from the “Darmstadt Harpsichord Book” (DHB) housed in the university and municipal library (“Universitats- und Landesbibliothek”) of the same city, with 5 of those works by Handel, and the 6th by Christoph Graupner. The harpsichordist on this recording, Genevieve Soly, is a scholar on the DHB and on the music of Graupner. She also contributed the liner notes on this recording, and wears her learning lightly there. She also plays well in all the works.
Soly mentions in her notes that the CD contains 20 of the 29 Handel works in the DHB. Given that I wrote that there are 7 compositions on this album, the “20” could be partly explained away by the fact that the CD has 22 tracks, and 1 is of the Graupner work. However, this still leaves 21 tracks, so I’m not sure how to account for the number “20”. In addition, the running time is just around 52 minutes, so one wonders how long the remaining “9 works” take, if they were too long to fit everything on 1 CD.
But pedantic points aside, for people interested in Handel and harpsichord music, this is a good album.