Bert Bailey wrote:

>Steve Schwartz...
>
>...raised some convincing points as to why Bach didn't delve into organ
>concertos with orchestra.  Still, it's a pity, and our loss -- well, at
>least for the likes of Donald Clarke and me, to whom the joys of solo
>organ are generally elusive.

Along with Norman Schwartz' suggestion in a separate message, might
there also be the possibility of some number of Bach cantata Sinfonie
that feature the organ with the orchestra?  I don't know how many there
are, but I'm pretty sure there's more than just the famous Cantata #29
Sinfonia (the one adapted from the E Major Unaccompanied Violin Partita's
Praeludium).  Not full concerti, of course, but at least by JSB, and the
orchestration fits the criteria.

>>It just goes to show how we experience composers in different ways.
>>To me, Handel is exciting, forceful, rude, and crude.  Someone once
>>wrote of the "bubble and bounce" of Handel.  I think of him as Mr.
>>Entertainment.
>
>I just don't know how to respond to this depiction of Handel as a sort
>of Neil Sedaka/Mick Jagger of his age.  'Must indeed stand as a proof
>of the undispuntandumness of de gustibus, as suggested.

Ouch...if a "Mr.  Entertainment" label is to be applied, or an analogous
modern figure in the musical world to be nominated, my candidate would
be Leonard Bernstein.

>I like to be entertained, but my recent acquisition of his Violin
>Sonatas (Rosand/Sung) aren't likely to be spinning very often in
>my CD tray ...and this applies also to his recorder sonatas
>(Petri/Jarett), which I've had for longer.  It must be my taste for
>an even cheaper form of sparkle, I guess, that hampers my listening.

I guess I don't want to venture back into the HIP/non-HIP debate, as I
admire Aaron Rosand in much of the 19th century repertoire, but there
are others whom I would have thought of more readily as advocates for
Handel's violin sonatas.  Have you heard Manze/Egarr's version?  Or if
a less-HIP approach is desired, how about Grumiaux's?  Or Rachel Barton's?
Also, Manze's recording of the Op. 6 Concerti Grossi with the Academy
of Ancient Music might be a good "string band" alternative to the organ
concerti, being some what similar in their 'pastiche' nature.  Some of
them even borrow from the organ concerti, and vice versa.

>I gather from somewhere that Mozart studied Handel closely, and just
>this morning I heard a killer version of his overture to The Marriage
>of Figaro on the radio.  I'm not sure if there's anything Handelian
>about it, but on its strength alone I'd certainly nominate WAM as Mr
>Entertainment!

So what would you think of Mozart's arrangement of "Messiah?"

Bill H.

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