Handel Chandos

Vernachlässigter Händel In seiner Eigenschaft als Hauskomponist des Earl of Carnavon schrieb Händel 1717 / 1718 für dessen Schlosskapelle in Cannons insgesamt 12 Anthems, die, obwohl der Earl erst 1719 zum Duke of Chandos ernannt wurde, allgemein als Chandos Anthems bekannt sind.

Before coming into contact with James Brydges, Earl of Carnarvon, Handel was is dire straits in London. His pension of £200 a year for teaching the Royal princesses had stopped, as had the public taste for opera. London had plunged into a hedonistic, alcohol- and gambling-driven lifestyle, where the bawdier things were the better.

The name 'Chandos anthems' is most frequently associated with Handel, but he was not the first, nor the last, composer in the extravagant household of James Brydges, the Duke of Chandos from 1719. Working concurrently with Handel at Cannons was the Berlin native, Johann Christoph Pepusch'snearly 20 years Handel's seniora who took over as Director of Music by early 1719 whereupon he adopted a distinctly Venetian approach to sacred music, in the manner of Lotti and Vivaldi.

Even if his wealth had come about in a rather questionable way, James Brydges, Earl of Carnavon and First Duke of Chandos, acquired at least an honorable musical-historical memory in the late 1710s as an important patron and patron of Handel.

The second Handel recording from the award-winning Dunedin Consort is a revelation. The album was a Finalist in the Baroque Vocal category in the 2009 Gramophone Awards.

Robert Woolley is one of Europe's leading performers and teachers of the harpsichord and other early keyboard instruments. He was born in London and studied at the Royal College of Music where he was Director of the Early Music Department and Adviser for Early Music from 1985-2006 and continues to be professor of harpsichord and clavichord.

Handel wrote incidental music for only one play, Tobias Smollett's Alceste, and it was never produced, so the composer, characteristically, recycled most of its major numbers. In this recording, Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company deliver a distinguished account of the rarely performed or recorded complete score.

The Italian harpsichordist, fortepianist, organist and conductor, Davide Pozzi, got the diploma with full marks of harpsichord, fortepiano and clavichord (M. Porrà), and organ and organ composition (Eva Frick Galliera) at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan. At the same conservatoire he got a first-class degree in organ. He He then continued his studies at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milan, receiving his diploma, again with honors, in Lorenzo Ghielmi's Baroque organ class. While there he also enhanced his harpsichord studies with Laura Alvini.

The Italian harpsichordist, fortepianist, organist and conductor, Davide Pozzi, got the diploma with full marks of harpsichord, fortepiano and clavichord (M. Porrà), and organ and organ composition (Eva Frick Galliera) at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan. At the same conservatoire he got a first-class degree in organ. He He then continued his studies at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milan, receiving his diploma, again with honors, in Lorenzo Ghielmi's Baroque organ class. While there he also enhanced his harpsichord studies with Laura Alvini.

For its second album on Chandos, the young Ferio Saxophone Quartet presents a set of unique arrangements of milestones from the baroque repertoire, from Corelli via Bach to Handel.