I don't recall any discussion of Handel's suites for harpsichord on the
list.  Lately, I've been listening frequently to Blandine Verlet's traveral
of the "eight great suites" on a 2-cd Astree set and decided to post about
the recordings devoted to these works.

Many harpsichord works attibuted to Handel are of dubious origin.  That's
not the case with the eight great suites which are pure Handel.  These
suites are infectious from the first hearing and exhibit a good deal of
freedom from the typical baroque suite form.  I can't say that they compare
well with Bach's harpsichord works, but they don't take a back seat to
those of any other baroque composer.

As with Bach or Scarlatti, recorded performances are on both harpsichord
and piano.  I'm familiar with three piano recordings:  Jarrett, Perahia,
and Gavrilov/Richter.  In Perahia's disc, Handel shares the limelight with
Scarlatti.  Gavrilov and Richter, on a Double-Forte EMI release, provide a
one-two punch that is hard to resist.  Overall, I favor the Jarrett; it has
the best sound, and Jarrett is a master of pacing.  Perahia's accounts are
more poetic, but he doesn't provide the forward momentum of Jarrett.

On harpsichord, Alan Cuckston has recorded the eight great suites for
Naxos.  Taken on its own, it's well performed, but it does not hold up
well to the competition.  Landowska has recorded some of the suites for
Music & Arts and Pearl; her interpretations are always interesting and
stand as a monument to past performance practices.  Bob Van Asperen
recorded a few for Sony Vivarte, and his performances are excellent as
are those of Gilbert on Harmonia Mundi.  However, Verlet gets my vote
by virtue of idiomatic performances and outstanding sound.

Summing up, Handel's great suites deserve a spot on the shelves of
every lover of baroque harpsichord music, at least one version each on
harpsichord and piano.  There is no one harpsichordist or pianist who is
the "consensus" expert in this repertoire, and any of the above mentioned
recordings will likely give much pleasure, even the Naxos.

Don Satz
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