Organ concerti are not all that common. Besides the three sets written (in some form) by Handel, all that I can think of off of the top of my head are a couple by Josef Rheinberger and the single example by Poulenc, though I'm sure there must be others. (There are, of course, various baroque concerti for keyboard and orchestra that are occasionally played by organists, but one doubts that the composers had that keyboard in mind.)
When one thinks of the notion of organ concerti, one is apt to think of the symphonic organ on the one hand and the symphony orchestra on the other, and to contemplate some titanic sonic battle that will leave an audience body-count commensurate with the decibel count. Occasionally one or another of the Handel works is played thus, quite improperly. Handel scored most of these pieces for organ, oboes and strings, and what he had clearly in mind in almost every instance was a positive (cabinet-organ) and chamber ensemble. But then he left us to speculate on a good many of his intentions in these works, as we shall see.
Sir John Hawkins, in his 1776 history of music, tells us that Handel may well be called the inventor of the organ concerto. His invention had a quite practical application: these works were used as orchestral interludes in the oratorios, with the composer himself at the keyboard. (It is an odd fact that though everyone who heard him thought Handel the greatest organist of his time, these are the only pieces for the instrument that he left us. No doubt he did not try to emulate Bach because England had no German style organs.) The organ concerti grew out of the concerto grosso form, at which Handel had already proved his mastery, but the scores we possess are by no means so definitive as those of Opp. 3 and 6. For one thing, ornamentation was, as in so much baroque music, left up to the performer; for another, there are many "ad lib." passages, which Handel apparently improvised, sometimes involving entire movements. "Originality" is often not in question: Op. 4, No. 5 is rather roughly taken over from the flute sonata, Op. 1, No. 11, and Op. 4, No. 6 was apparently originally for harp(!) and orchestra. Op. 4, No. 4, as first used in the oratorio ''Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno" included a "Hallelujah Chorus" in the finale. Op. 4, No. 3 exists in two distinct versions. And several of the later concerti are partly or wholly pastiches transcribed by the publisher and his minions from other Handel works.
I am sorry to report that the original publishers of this record have not seen fit to offer more than basic enlightenment about its contents and performers. I know absolutely nothing of Werner Nutzel or the Munich Bach Consort, but since I cannot imagine modern German musicians daring to do anything not in accord with the latest musicological findings, I think you may rest assured that these performances are “authentic.''
