Daniel Edgar

OAE: Look, no Bass 

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Look, no Bass!
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
 OAE Player from Thursday 25 November

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is a self-managed and democratic orchestra and gives its players considerable freedom to choose programmes and music. In their latest video offering on their OAE Player, Look, No Bass!, the OAE’s violinists present a programme of music for violins alone, highlighting the various textures and colours of their ubiquitous instrument. Their programme includes Telemann’s two Concerti for Four Violins, his programmatic Gulliver Suite Duo (from Der getreue Musikmeister), and arrangements by the OAE violinists of a Gabrieli Canzon and pieces by the English composers Matthew Locke and John Adson.

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The Sixteen: Acis and Galatea

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Handel: Acis and Galatea
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Coro COR16169. 2 CDs, 89’03

This is an attractive reappraisal of Handel’s Acis and Galatea, the one-Act “Little Opera” (as described by Handel) that he composed in 1718 for performance at Cannons, the grandiose (and no longer existing) seat of the 1st Duke of Chandos, James Brydges in what is now a North London suburb. It seems likely that it was performed outdoors to a selective audience of house guests on a terrace of the county house, although it is not clear to what extent it was staged. It subsequently went through several incarnations and revisions during Handel’s lifetime. On this recording, Harry Christophers returns to what might have been the original Cannons version with just five singers and small-scale instrumental forces of just nine players, with pairs of violins, cellos, oboes/recorders with a three-strong continuo section of theorbo, harp, and organ/harpsichord. Continue reading →