专辑简介

Germany's MDG label is an audiophile outfit distinguished not by special technical wizardry but by close attention to sound environment. Here the label's engineers operate in one of their favorite venues for chamber music, the former farmhouse of the Marienmünster Abbey in that small Rhine River-area city. Its effect here is truly marvelous, with small details standing out in the sounds of the various recorders used in this disc of Handel sonatas for recorder and harpsichord (not really, as the notes point out, continuo). Two of those recorders come from the period when these sonatas were written, not a terribly common occurrence with this relatively fragile instrument, and they are beautifully showcased here. The harpsichord of Russo-Israeli-American performer Zvi Meniker is made resonant but not overwhelming, and the interplay with recorder player Heiko ter Schegget is crackling with excitement. The performers appearing on this label are never less than competent, but this pair is outstanding. Meniker's notes imagine Handel as "romantic," using "long, drawn-out melodic lines, simple intervals and harmonies; expressive or dramatic in the minor mode, jolly or friendly and warm in the major," with an appeal that outlasted that of other Baroque styles and is in the final analysis rather mysterious. The performers set out to capture a "visceral" quality in Handel's music, which does not mean in the least that their readings are exaggerated or that tempos are extreme in either direction. Instead, the performers let themselves enjoy the flow of the music, ornamenting it only lightly, taking a bit of time now and then in the slow movements, and generally avoiding formality and favoring liveliness. Add in booklet notes that are engaging both with regard to the music and to the instruments played, and you have an exemplary recording of these often-played sonatas.