Latest Release
- NOV 26, 2024
- 71 Songs
- Handel: Messiah · 1955
- Christmas Joy · 2024
- Piano Express - From Bach to Satie · 2007
- Hallelujah - Single · 2013
- Best of God, Volume One · 1896
- Handel Edition, Vol. 9: Orchestral Music · 2009
- Classical Fireworks · 1991
- Sounds of Xmas, Vol, 18 · 2009
- Mr Handel's in Town - Single · 2021
- Handel Edition Volume 4 - Samson, Messiah & Arias from Rinaldo, Serse Etc · 1995
Essential Albums
- With a masterpiece as beloved—and familiar—as Messiah, Handel’s great choral retelling of the life of Christ, it’s easy to imagine that there’s nothing new to be said. Harry Christophers and his virtuoso chamber choir The Sixteen prove otherwise: by 2008, when they made this recording they had over two decades’ experience with historically-informed performances of Handel. With a line-up of soloists that includes the great tenor Mark Padmore, this is a performance that combines epic sweep with a truly theatrical flair. And the great choruses—“For unto us a child is born,” “Lift up your heads,” and of course the “Hallelujah!” chorus—have a thrilling immediacy when sung with the precision and clarity of The Sixteen’s handpicked singers.
- Improvization at the keyboard was an essential condition of Handel’s musical life, just as it has been for Keith Jarrett. The latter’s feeling for subtle shifts of expression and ability to get under the hood of whatever he plays, whether jazz or classical, bring countless insights to these captivating interpretations of seven of Handel’s Keyboard Suites. Jarrett projects the composer’s contrapuntal lines with tremendous clarity, allowing each to speak freely without overpowering its companions. Every piece sings and dances under his fingers, at times with supreme grace, as in the “Sarabande” from the Suite in D minor and the “Adagio” from the Suite in F major. Others, such as the “Gigue” from the Suite in A major and the “Allemande” from the Suite in B flat major possess an irresistible charm.
Artist Playlists
- Bach's great contemporary influenced music in Italy, Germany, and his adopted home, Great Britain.
Appears On
About George Frideric Handel
Few Baroque composers have matched George Frideric Handel’s ability to shine penetrating light on human emotions. Born in the German city of Halle in 1685, Handel became a musician in spite of his barber-surgeon father’s wishes. Stubbornness became a virtue after he moved to London in 1712, having struck gold there the year before with his opera Rinaldo. He remained there until his death in 1759, shaping perceptions of Britain’s emerging identity as a world power with masterworks such as Music for the Royal Fireworks and four Coronation Anthems, “Zadok the Priest” preeminent among them. He used the conventions of the 18th-century Italian opera seria to express deep psychological insights and plucked the dramatic English oratorio from obscurity, perfecting it for the elite tastes of Hanoverian London. His instinctive feeling for drama courses through such operas as Orlando (a nerve-jangling study in its title character’s descent into madness), Ariodante, and Alcina. Best known today for his still-compelling oratorio Messiah, Handel possessed a genius for characterization and storytelling that reached its peak in such late oratorios as Solomon, Theodora, and Jephtha.
- BORN
- 1685
- GENRE
- Classical