Luogo e data di registrazione		Casino Zögernitz, Vienna (Austria) - dicembre 1984 & gennaio 1985
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		-
	Edizione CD		TELDEC - 8.43050 XH (243 032-2) - (1 CD - durata 50' 33") - (c) 1989 - DDD
	Originale LP		TELDEC - 6.43050 AZ - (1 LP - durata 50' 35") - (p) 1985 - Digitale
	Note		-

Johann Mattheson, who knew Handel from thc cornposer's time in Hamburg, 1703-1706, wrote about him in his famous lexicon “Grundlage einer Ehrenpforte" (1740): “He was a strong performer on the organ, stronger than Kuhnau, in fugues and counterpoints, an exceptional improviser; but he knew very little about melody until he came to the Hamburg opera.” In Mattheson’s character sketch, which places Handel’s talents as an organist above those of Kuhnau, then Thomaskantor at Leipzig, one is struck by the comment that Handel’s melodic skills were only moulded through his contact with opera, an element reflected in his instrumental concertos, which are sparse both in number and in variety ofscoring. In 1719 Handel began to build up an opera in London, but in the long term he was unable to survive the hard struggle ofcommercial and artistic rivalry, and thus turned to the oratorio in the 1730s, For the performances of these works Handel once again bore sole responsibility, and between the different parts of the oratorios he played instrumental compositions: The important organ concertos were written for this purpose, and for the performance of the rnasterly “Alexander`s Feast” in 1736 he comeposed the concerto which has since borne the name of the oratorio, and has always been one of`Handel’s best-loved conccrtos. Handel’s preoccupation with thoroughly virtuoso vocal parts influenced his emphatically melodic style; prominent instrumental parts in oratorios and operas support the vocal lines and contribute to the realisation of a superior musical idea. Handel's soloistic instrumental music corresponds to the melodic ideal developed in the vocal sphere, and he proceeded equally freely in the adoption and modification of instrumental forms. Thus the early Violin Concerto HWV 288, probably originally composed as a chamber piece with oboe instead of violin, cannot be compared with an Italian concerto. The andante consists of song-like triad figures, the same basis idea which Handel used later in “Belshazzar” again, and only in the final movement is the Italian concerto style heard: pure Vivaldi, daring and virtuosic. The central movement is a short adagio, more of a transition passage than a movement in its own right. The so-called Oboe Concerto no. 4 is likewise not a solo concerto in the normal sense of the word, and it is not only the four movements that brings it into the vicinity of the concerto grosso. The first movement has two violins in the solo rôle, the oboe being employed in the tutti to reinforce and add colour to the violin sound. The viola part seems to be lost and has been completed by Herbert Tachezi. The second movement, a fugue, and the finale do without solo instruments altogether; only the andante makes use of the oboe’s solo cantabile. This movement may well have taken Albinoni’s famous oboe concerto as its model. A concerto of this kind is not uncommon in Handel, but it would have been inconceivable for the Italian composers. In the case ofthe concerto grosso "Alexander’s Feast", it is only the four-mouvement plan and the fact that the solo cello is silent in the final movement that prevent one from classifying it as a group concerto. In this type of concerto, there are several solo instruments instead of one - here two violins and cello -, which are treated as a solo group and in this recording are put in the far background. In no other concerto grosso of Handel's is there such regular alternation between tutti and solo, in no other concerto grosso does the virtuoso and light, gay yet noble playing of the soli dominate as in this work. After the brilliant opening movement and the vocally rounded largo, the second allegro is a rondo of a special kind: the solo group states the theme,which is then taken up by the tutti. In the course of the movement the rondo theme always appears in the tutti, with repeated changes of key and with different orchestral parts leading, while the soloists take responsibility for the intervening pieces. The alternation between soli and tutti thus created is supplemented by the instrumentation and by changes of key from one ritornello to the next. As so often in his concerti grossi, here too Handel follows with a movement that is out of the ordinary. The unusual tempo marking "Andante non presto" indicates that the Lombardic rhythm should not congeal into a grace-note, into mere decoration. In rondo style Handel composes different dynamic stages with two solo violins, strings and thorough-bass instrumentationally. “Alexander’s Feast or the Might of Music" is an Ode to St Cecilia in mythological dress, a homage to music. The concerto grosso is not, it is true, motivistically connected with the Cecilia tradition, but the occasion of the composition may have made at least a notional contribution to this unusual work. Handel’s organ concertos are not only unique among Baroque concertos tor their solo instrument: they are also unconventional in terms of form. Thus some of the sixteen concertos have more than three movements, while others, such as the one recorded here, contain only two fully composed movements; in still others, a solo violin or solo cello is added to the organ. At the actual performances, given between sections ot his oratorios, Handel had only a small instrument without a pedal-board, a positive organ, at his disposal. The composition is therefore tailored for performance on this kind of instrument, and sounds melodic and clear. Embellishments are noted sometimes only at the beginning of a movement, sometimes not at all; the intetpreter then has to supply them himself. Individual movements are frequently not written out, since Handel used to improvise them as an unaccompanied solo. Thus in this concerto, even early editions contain the direction after the first movement: "Adagio: Organo adagio ad libitum, e poi una Fuga allegro ad libitum, poi segue 9/8" (An organ adagio of the players choice, then a fugue allegro ad libitum, then follows 9/8, i.e. the composed allegro). And in the first movement, too, there are passages to be filled in ex tempore by the organist. Mattheson`s description of handel quoted above is thus consummated in turn by the organ concertos, which unite the great organist and improviser with the master of melody. Gerhard Schuhmacher (Translation: Clive Williams)