Handel: Organ Concertos, Op. 4, Nos. 1-4 HWV 289-292

Handel ORGAN CONCERTOS liner notes

I know of no better cure for a fit of depression than an Organ Concerto by George Frideric Handel. The placid andantes, the poignant adagios, the jaunty allegros engage the ear and distract the mind from all other concerns. These open, extroverted works were designed to soothe, to please. Handel, a showman to the core, concocted the organ concertos to serve as interludes in his oratorios and to delight his cultured audiences with displays of his talents as keyboard virtuoso and master improviser. ''When he gave a concerto, his method in general was to introduce it with a voluntary movement on the diapasons, which stole on the ear in a slow and solemn progression; the harmony close wrought, and as full as could possibly be expressed; the passages co-catenated with stupendous art, the whole at the same time being perfectly intelligible, and carrying the appearance of great simplicity. This kind of prelude was succeeded by the concerto itself which he executed with a degree of spirit and firmness that no one has ever pretended to equal." (Sir John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, 1776).