Two newly released CDs with chamber string music from the 18th century
The chamber music from Georg Frideric Handel is not a very organised collection. It is quite difficult to know for sure which sonatas are really by Handel and for which instruments they were composed originally. This is partly due to the fact that Handel would quite often change the original arrangement, and partly because of publishers with little scruples, who had published sonatas with Handel’s name but weren’t written by him or had other arrangements than Handel had written himself.
Musicologists have ascertained from five sonatas they were orginally intended for violin and written by Handel. There are also some separate parts that were probably intended as solo works (and aren’t the remaining parts of lost sonatas)
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1750)
1. Sonata in G major (HWV 358)
2. Sonata in D major, op. 1,13 (HWV 371)
3. Allegro in G major (HWV 407)
4. Allegro in C minor (HWV 408)
5. Andante in A minor (HWV 412)
Bojan Čičić, violin. Steven Devine, harpsichord
(CD: “Complete Violin Sonatas” – Delphian Records DCD34304, 2024)
The second CD is the debut of the German ensemble Tiefsaits – coming from the words “tiefe Saiten”. The ensemble consists of three cellists. They play music for three cellos, as well as works for two cellos with the third cello playing basso continuo. Their debut CD contains three solo works for cello from Giuseppe Clemente dall’Abaco, who takes center stage in the programme. He was born in Brussels and was part of the chapel orchestra of the Prince Elector of Bonn, which gave him the opportunity to travel through Europe as cello virtuoso. The Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Barrière was also a cellist, who studied in Italy. He published four albums with cello sonatas with increasing levels of difficulty. The last two sonatas are influenced by the Italian style.
Giuseppe Clemente dall’Abaco (1710-1805)
6. Caprice no 4 in D minor*
7. Trio no 2 in G major (ABV 55)
Jean-Baptiste Barrière (1707-1747)
8. Sonata à 3 in C minor [book III, no 2]
Giuseppe Clemente dall’Abaco
9. From Trio no 1 in B-flat minor (ABV 54): moderato
Tiefsaits (Anna Reisener, Alma Stolte, Mirjam-Luise Münzel*, cello)
(CD: “À Tre – 18th Century Cello Trios” – Da Vinci Classics C00943, 2024)
In addition:
Giuseppe Clemente dall’Abaco
10. Caprice no 2 in G minor
Alma Stolte, cello
(CD: see 6-9)
Image: cover CD Händel
