Trevor

Trevor Pinnock is one of the world's leading exponents of historical performance practice, and this collection of Baroque keyboard favorites is one of his most successful attempts to communicate his musical values to a broad audience. These popular works are often anthologized, but seldom have they sounded as fresh and exciting as they do here. Handel's Harmonious Blacksmith and Bach's Italian Concerto are the best known of these selections, though Pinnock's playing liberates them from their use as flashy encore pieces and instead treats them as more intimate entertainments. François Couperin's magical Les baricades mistérieuses and Rameau's Gavotte Variations are also well known, and their inclusion on any disc of the harpsichord's "greatest hits" is de rigueur. Domenico Scarlatti's two Sonatas in E major are still brilliant, even at the lower tuning (A=415). The remaining works of this collection are perhaps less-widely heard, but each offers insights into both Pinnock's interpretive skills and the instrument's wealth of possibilities.

The harpsichord music of Louis Couperin (c.1626-1661) occupies a unique place in the glorious flowering of French keyboard music of the baroque era. His short life story is a touching one, marked by strong family bonds, then by the devastation of war, professional success and recognition, before the tragedy of sudden sickness and an early death. He left an indelible mark on musical history in a span of just ten years.

Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert's famed Handel recordings, performed with period instruments! Includes Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks; 6 Concerti Grossi, Op. 3; 12 Concerto Grossi, Op. 6; Concerto a due cori No. 3 in F major, "Concerto in Judas Maccabaeus," and more.

You may not realize it, but at some point, during any day, week, or month, you’ve listened to the music of Trevor Rabin. It might have been on the radio when one of the biggest rock hits of all time, Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart “, was played, or on one of his more than 100 movie or TV soundtracks, or even the theme for NBA basketball on TNT.

This package, released on Archiv Laserdisc and VHS in December 1993, was recorded a year earlier at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in cooperation with a consortium of European television broadcasters. It consists of two distinct but complementary programs, the first under McCreesh followed by another under Pinnock. As the notes point out, the basilica is the perfect site for such a program, since it has claimed to possess the very crib in which the infant lay on the first Christmas. For centuries the papal celebration of the Midnight Mass of Christmas was held “ad praesepe,” at the altar where the crib was venerated. Typically for such concert videos, we see appropriate scenes in the basilica alternating with views of the singers and players.

Here is another fine performance of the Fireworks Music in its original scoring for nine horns, nine trumpets, 21 oboes, 21 bassoons, three snare drums and three timpani. It makes a grand noise, but just as interesting is the music that conductor Trevor Pinnock has assembled from other Handel works, something the composer himself did, to provide a rich and enjoyable selection of orchestral music that we would ordinarily never hear in this form. Pinnock has had a tendency in the past to sound somewhat stiff in Handel's music, but here he lets his hair down and everyone concerned seems to be having a very good time.

Written in 1724, just after Giulio Cesare and just before Rodelinda, Tamerlano comes from one of the most fruitful periods of Handel’s career, full of compelling inspiration, yet it has been relatively neglected on disc. This Avie recording was made live at Sadler’s Wells in London in collaboration with the BBC in June 2001, marking a welcome return to disc of Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert. The result is delicate on a smallish scale, less sharply focused than Pinnock’s Archiv recordings, but with unerring judgement on style and pacing.

Here is charming and completely diverting music. These melodious chamber works by Johann Christian Bach, known as "The London Bach" overflow with catchy melodies that will put a smile on the face of any music lover. This is not music with a message other than to entertain and the youngest son of Johann Sebastian was an imaginative composer who embraced the new Classical era. He was among the earliest masters to perform solos on the then newfangled pianoforte. Mozart took lessons from J.C. Bach and was much influenced by him. Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert play these beguiling works with a sense of joy and delight.