George Frideric Handel: Complete Violin Sonatas
DCD34304 (Delphian Records, CD)
FIRST RELEASE (23 February 2024)
Playing time: 66'06"
Tracks: 32
Booklet pages: 20
℗ 2024 Delphian Records Ltd
© 2024 Delphian Records Ltd
Main country of recording: United Kingdom
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of George Frideric Handel: Complete Violin Sonatas published on 21 February 2024
Bojan Čičić, Baroque violin by Giovanni Grancino, Milan 1703
Steven Devine, harpsichord by Jacob Kirckman, London 1756
George Frideric Handel:
Sonata in D Op 1 No 13, HWV 371
1 Affettuoso
2 Allegro
3 Larghetto
4 Allegro
5 Allegro in G, HWV 407
Sonata in G, HWV 358
6 Allegro
7 Adagio
8 Allegro
Sonata in D minor, Op 1 No 1, HWV 359a
9 Grave
10 Allegro
11 Adagio
12 Allegro
Sonata in G minor, Op 1 No 6, HWV 364a
13 Larghetto
14 Allegro
15 Adagio
16 Allegro
17 Allegro in C minor, HWV 408
Sonata in A, Op 1 No 14, HWV 372
18 Adagio
19 Allegro
20 Largo
21 Allegro
Sonata in E, Op 1 No 15, HWV 373
22 Adagio
23 Allegro
24 Largo
25 Allegro
26 Sonatina from Il trionfo del Tempo, HWV 46b
27 Andante in A minor, HWV 412
28 Fantasia in A, HWV 406
Sonata in A, Op 1 No 3, HWV 361
29 Andante
30 Allegro
31 Adagio
32 Allegro
Though better known as a virtuoso keyboard player, as a young man Handel also trained as a violinist. His works for violin and harpsichord, says essayist Donald Burrows, 'do not attract attention by flashy virtuosity: rather, they are flowing and agreeable chamber music, in which the violinist is in musical conversation with the keyboard player'. Who better to guide us in this conversation than two early music stars - Bojan Čičić, fresh from acclaimed solo recordings of Bach and Johann Jakob Walther; and Steven Devine, who has known the magnificent 1756 Kirckman harpsichord since boyhood and for whom, he says, it is a privilege and delight to record these Handel Sonatas on it.
Recorded 13-15 March 2023 at St Martin's Church, East Woodhay, Hampshire, UK.