Handel is no Bach, but I mean this as a good thing! I find it amazing that these two giants, who were born almost within a month of each other and barely 100 miles apart, were so unique. For some reason, George's solo keyboard works have not fared as well as Sebastian's. They offer a welcome respite from an over-played and over-recorded mainstream.
Handel favored the English spelling of his name. He so dominated England in the first half of the 18th century that I have chosen to identify his harpsichord music as "Harpsichord - English" in my iTunes schema, which includes the genres "Harpsichord - French," "Harpsichord - German," and "Harpsichord - Italian." I just don't think of him as a German composer.
Most amazing is that Handel's keyboard oeuvre is so under-represented, beyond The Harmonious Blacksmith. It has the best of Handel embedded in it: a strong vocal line, along with some really marvelous counterpoint. One harpsichordist friend shed a little light on this mystery: Handel's keyboard style is far less playable than Bach's. It is full of thick textures and difficult reaches. This fits: I believe he was both physically big and also one of those larger-than-life personalities. I picture Sebastian Bach as more compact, and we know he favored the smaller keyboards of Mietke. Actually, one would think that the challenge of Handel's keyboard pieces would make them more attractive.
I have had harpsichord collections by Sophie Yates and Blandine Verlet for some years and just couldn't get passionate about the music. It was nice: damning it with faint praise... Verlet's recording suffers from a less-than-ideal sound. Yate's has a fine sound and there is nothing wrong with the playing, except that it just fails to excite me. Neither recording really has drawn me back with any frequency, so I am guilty of listening to "too much" Bach.
I think this music has a very masculine quality to it, and it is music well suited to a virtuoso touch. My favorite recording has been by Keith Jarrett on the modern piano – an energetic and nicely articulated performance. Murray Perahia also has a recording of Handel and Scarlatti in combination on the modern piano that I actually find just a little too sensitive to sustain interest.
Although Jarrett makes the music work pretty well on the piano, even it is missing the sparkle that the harpsichord could bring. Fortunately, Jory Vinikour has released a 2-CD collection that I am forced to admit I had ignored simply because I had given up on the music itself. However, Jory is a true virtuoso (I mean this in the best sense of the word), and has the right handle on Handel.
First of all, the recording was done on exactly the right kind of harpsichord: an instrument built by John Phillips after the 1739 Gräbner. Phillips is generally considered one of the top American harpsichord builders. I usually find his instruments to be bland – never bad, but just not an instrument that pops out and grabs me by the ears. Not so this instrument: it has a big, rich sound with a great deal of character. I would almost go so far as to describe it as "organ-like," which coincidentally would be ideal for Handel's music. This particular instrument has a rather extraordinary range of DD-d''', extending a fourth lower than most harpsichords that would be used for this music; it sounds like Vinikour occasionally uses those lower notes, perhaps accounting for the "organ-like" sound. The recorded sound is just a bit live, but not offensively so: clearly the church the recoding was done in was quite resonant.
The temperament used is the so-called "Bach-Lehman." I wouldn't normally mention the temperament, but I found this interesting for at least two reasons. First of all, the "Bach-Lehman" temperament is a rather controversial synthesis, based on interpretation of squiggles Bach made on a manuscript. It's actually a very nice temperament, but I refuse to believe it has any direct association with Bach, let alone Handel. It is strange to see it popping up with increasing frequency, when there are so many other fine temperaments with a stronger historical claim. There is a rather well documented "Handel Temperament" that I have tuned with many times does have a more authentic claim to Handel. Any argument over temperaments is just asking for a fight in the wrong circles, and I find most listeners could hardly care if it were Vallotti, Weckmeister, or "Bach-Lehman"!
The second reason I mention the temperament is that a couple of the suites wander into more "remote" tonalities that will bring out the "color" in a non-equal temperament.In particular, the suites in E Major and F-Sharp Minor on the second CD will either delight the connoisseur of HIP (historically informed performances) or cause those too comfortable with the pabulum of equal temperament to occasionally cringe. Often recordings will "adjust" the tuning to smooth out the rough spots, but not so on this recording. I say, bravo! I fail to see what good different keys serve if they all sound the same!
Enough about the unimportant things: what is important is the performance itself. The 2-CD set includes the eight "Great" Suites of 1720. Not all of these are the French style suites we are so familiar with, often diverging from the standard dance movements. The suite in F Major, by far the shortest of the bunch, consists of only four movements, Adagio-Allegro-Adagio-Allegro: not a single dance there! As I stated earlier, Vinikour is a real virtuoso, and I can't help but recall his San Diego recital almost four years ago, notable for his performing from memory (unusual with harpsichordists) and with astonishing command and bravura. What I find interesting is that Vinikour actually plays many of the movements more broadly than either Verlet or Yates, yet manages to breath life and excitement into everything.
Handel isn't caught up with dance, but rather with song. This should come as no surprise, given his focus on operas and oratorios. This is exactly why these suites are such a refreshing change. Also, Handel was a showman, and his solo keyboard works are more extroverted. Bach, of course, is the ultimate introvert. It may be that the Handel is actually more difficult to perform, not just because of the notes, but because in the wrong hands the music can lapse into banality. Vinikour has a clear vision for the music and makes it compelling. This is a recording not to be missed!
