As we all know, Handel really can really turn a tune, and there is plenty in these pieces: the recording should be an orgy of pleasures. Alas, the pieces are performed with a mechanical stiffness, so that I can barely make it through the recording. Mr. Knox clearly has all of the technical resources he needs, in fact plays brilliantly, but the performance is so metronomic that the life is sucked out of the beautiful tunes. I fear that this is, at best, background music.
The instruments themselves show promise, but it seems that they are miked too closely, and in unfavorable acoustics: it is a dry sound on top of a dry performance.
Meanwhile, Jory Vinikour's recording has been very favorably reviewed and he is interviewed in FanFare Magazine this month. I hope the recording is "successful" (a relative term in this niche market..) and that we can look forward to more from Jory: he is better known in concert than in recording and he is one of the real harpsichord virtuosos today.
The real "prize" must go to a recording by Christopher Hogwood on clavichords that I wrote about a couple of years ago: The Secret Handel. Re-listening to reminded me what delightful and brilliant recording it is.
