cd-review Händel

Vigorous playing in an all-too-rare selection of Handel's orchestral music

While a plethora of Handelian recording projects continue on apace, it's curious that musicians seldom produce a disc of his assorted orchestral works. Handel isn't exactly underestimated as an orchestral composer but his disc by the Ghent-bases orchestra B'Rock is the first such anthology of concertos and overtures to have come my way in a long time. It shrewdly alternates three overtures with one concerto each from Op 3 and Op 6, all played by a standard Baroque orchestra of oboes, bassoons, strings and continuo. It almost goes without saying that there is ample variety and interest in Handel's music, even when the instrumental combinations are essentially identical throughout the disc.
B'Rock may have a groan-worthy name but these performances are anything but tacky: the string-playing is strongly (sic) characterised, without any hint of complacency, and the use of a decent number of players (almost 20) enables some vigorous and rich textures, in which the woodwind and continuo play a full part.
I particularly enjoyed the melancholic passages for oboes and bassoon during the Largo from Il pastor fido (although the concluding Allegro is rushed), and concertmaster Lidewij Van der Voort provides some lively violin-playing in the Gavotte from Lotario. The opening of Op 6 No 1 is played with resolute personality and the ensuing Allegro crackles with vitality (there are flashes of playful humour). It may be possible for an enterprising Baroque orchestra to devise a more perfectly contrasted programme, especially if a broader palette of instruments is available, but B'Rock's zesty performances illustrate that Handel's orchestral repertoire has plenty to offer beyond the usual suspects.