Handel: Water Music & Mozart: Epistle Sonatas

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

These starkly contrasting Handel performances range from Thurston Dart’s historically-informed, exuberant and fleet-footed Water Music to George Szell’s beefed-up romantic approach with the LSO. — BBC Music Magazine, February 2020, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 27th Sep 2019
Catalogue No: ELQ4828531
Label: Eloquence
Length: 75 minutes

Handel: Water Music Suite No. 1 in F major, HWV348

Work length26:44

$8.80

$12.00

Thurston Dart (director)
Philomusica of London
Recorded: 1960

1. Overture

Track length3:07

$1.10

$1.50

2. Adagio e staccato

Track length2:15

$1.10

$1.50

3. Hornpipe and Andante

Track length7:59

$1.10

$1.50

4. Jig

Track length2:42

$1.10

$1.50

5. Air

Track length3:00

$1.10

$1.50

6. Minuet

Track length2:34

$1.10

$1.50

7. Gavotte

Track length2:36

$1.10

$1.50

8. Bourée and Hornpipe

Track length2:31

$1.10

$1.50

Handel: Water Music Suite No. 3 in G major, HWV350

Work length7:30

$4.40

$6.00

Thurston Dart (director)
Philomusica of London
Recorded: 1960

19. Menuet & Trio

Track length3:27

$1.10

$1.50

17. Rigaudon I and II

Track length1:54

$1.10

$1.50

20. Gigue

Track length1:16

$1.10

$1.50

21. Minuet I - Minuet II - Country Dance

Track length0:53

$1.10

$1.50

Handel: Water Music Suite No. 2 in D major, HWV349

Work length9:47

$5.50

$7.50

Thurston Dart (director)
Philomusica of London
Recorded: 1960

11. Prelude

Track length2:19

$1.10

$1.50

12. Hornpipe

Track length3:24

$1.10

$1.50

14. Lentement

Track length1:16

$1.10

$1.50

15. Bourée

Track length0:50

$1.10

$1.50

13. Minuet

Track length1:58

$1.10

$1.50

Handel: Alcina - Overture

Work length6:29

$1.10

$1.50

Boyd Neel Orchestra
Boyd Neel
Recorded: 1954-07-27
Recording Venue: Decca Studio 3, West Hampstead, London

Handel: Berenice Overture

Work length7:11

$1.10

$1.50

Boyd Neel Orchestra
Boyd Neel
Recorded: 1954-07-27
Recording Venue: Decca Studio 3, West Hampstead, London

Handel: Il Pastor Fido: Menuet

Work length3:22

$1.10

$1.50

London Symphony Orchestra
George Szell
Recorded: 1961-08-29
Recording Venue: Watford Town Hall, London

Handel: Xerxes, HWV 40: Largo

Work length5:29

$1.10

$1.50

London Symphony Orchestra
George Szell
Recorded: 1961-08-29
Recording Venue: Watford Town Hall, London

Mozart: Church (Epistle) Sonata No. 10 in F major for organ & strings, K244

Work length3:29

$1.10

$1.50

Philomusica of London
Thurston Dart
Recorded: 1957

Mozart: Church (Epistle) Sonata No. 13 in G major for organ & strings, K274

Work length5:15

$1.10

$1.50

Philomusica of London
Thurston Dart
Recorded: 1957

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Handel orchestral favourites from the 1950s in a winning combination of old-school polish and unaffected stylistic refinement. With this and several other albums, Eloquence celebrates the art of Thurston Dart, the harpsichordist, conductor and editor who played a leading role in the early-music revival in postwar Britain.

After his death in 1971 at the age of just 49, his fellow harpsichordist Igor Kipnis paid fulsome tribute to ‘a man of many parts’, whose 1954 volume on The Interpretation of Music had attained testamentary authority among his fellow musicians, matched by the skill, style and flourish of his many recordings: ‘He was the ideal musicologist-performer.’ Kipnis singled out this 1959 L’Oiseau-Lyre recording of the Water Music as a classic. Alongside the legendary winds-only account of the Fireworks Music led by Sir Charles Mackerras it was chosen by Stereo Review in 1964 as a defining album in a general introduction to Baroque culture: ‘I cannot think of two other Baroque recordings that I could recommend more unreservedly.’ Dart and his colleague Brian Priestman attempted to reassemble the whole of the Water Music as it had first been heard, on a fine summer’s evening in 1717, played on barges sailing down the Thames.

In his own booklet notes, reprinted in this Eloquence reissue, Dart explained that the LP format had necessitated the omission of some repeats in the music, but that ‘the orchestration on this disc is Handel’s throughout - he was one of the most skilful orchestrators of the 18th century, and may be presumed to have understood what he was doing’.

The couplings are drawn from a pair of Decca albums: overtures directed by Boyd Neel (in 1954) and George Szell (in 1961) with a chaste restraint and lively rhythmic precision that complements the extrovert fantasy of Dart’s performing instincts. Added are two of the Mozart Epistle Sonatas recorded in 1956.

‘The Overtures to Alcina and Berenice are played by the Boyd Neel group with the freshness and hearty gusto typical of that group.’ - High Fidelity, September 1956

Reviews

February 2020

These starkly contrasting Handel performances range from Thurston Dart’s historically-informed, exuberant and fleet-footed Water Music to George Szell’s beefed-up romantic approach with the LSO.

January/February 2020

[Water Music] Though the 1960 recording still has the older aesthetic, the performance by the Philomusica is nicely precise. The horn playing in the F-Major Suite is particularly well done. The trumpet playing in the D-Major Suite is bright and distinctive, and throughout the woodwinds (oboes, flutes, bassoon) are in tune. The tempos are respectful but not lugubrious.

Handel: Water Music & Mozart: Epistle Sonatas

Downloads

Contents

Download queue