Handel: Sonata in F major for recorder and continuo, HWV369, Op. 1 No. 11

Handel wrote the solo sonatas of Opus 1 for the professional musicians of his London opera orchestra.They demand considerable skill and stamina both from the soloist and the continuo. Prominent bass parts give the sonatas a contrapuntal strength and vitality, and Handel keeps the elements of display and purely musical argument in admirable balance in these works. For this reason, they are among the most attractive Baroque solo sonatas and deserve their lasting popularity. Played here by members of the Academy of Ancient Music under the leadership of Richard Egarr, Handel's delightful sonatas are shown to be true masterpieces written by a composer at the height of his powers.

Piers Adams is widely regarded as one of the greatest recorder players of our time. He has been heralded as ‘a dazzling virtuoso star’ (BBC Music Magazine), ‘staggering’ (Gramophone), ‘intensely musical and astonishingly colorful’ (Pittsburg Tribune Review), and ‘the reigning recorder virtuoso in the world today’ (Washington Post).

Piers has worked tirelessly to develop the recorder’s repertoire and reputation as a serious solo instrument, in particular through his researches into forgotten corners of the instrument’s repertoire, and his numerous arrangements and transcriptions from a wide range of genres.

In 1997 Piers founded his now world-renowned baroque quartet Red Priest, with whom he has toured the globe several times, performing over 1000 concerts on four continents in some of the most prestigious music festivals. The group has appeared frequently on TV and radio – including hour long televised features on LWT’s The South Bank Show (UK) – and recorded several acclaimed discs on Red Priest Recordings.

The Vivaldi CD is a 1988 recording previously released on Collins Classics and Cala United. The Handel CD is a 1989 recording previously released on Factory Records.

Handel composed his recorder sonatas as a young man and was particularly influenced by the English school of recorder making. The romanticism of these works reflects the young Handel and the life he was beginning to experience in London.

Handel’s sonatas for recorder were composed in the years 1724–6. What is remarkable is that he found the time to concentrate on such work at a time when his operas were in great demand in London: this is the period of Scipione and Agrippina. The young composer was the toast of the town, and had become a naturalised Englishman having followed his old employer the Elector of Hanover, Georg to London. Georg became King George I, and Georg Frideric Handel became George Frederick Handel. It will come as no surprise that the sonatas contain a lot of ‘operatic’ material, from Handel’s own operas, and those of his contemporaries such as Georg Muffat.

Many of the most popular arias from Handel’s operas had been published in transcriptions for recorder and keyboard – the ancestors of the operatic paraphrases by Liszt and Henselt in the 19th century. Although they can be considered as domestic music, the keyboard parts are quite virtuosic (Handel was an excellent harpsichordist), and the composer’s markings are detailed lending credence to the view that these works were also used as exercises. Handel enthusiasts will find much that is familiar in these works, sprightly fast movements and operatic larghettos, the latter no doubt influenced by the operatic workload Handel faced at the time.

New recordings from 2008

‘Bosgraaf ’s virtuosity is stunning, as is his artistry’ Gramophone review for Bosgraaf ’s 3CD set of music by van Eyck

Erik Bosgraaf has also recorded Bach and Telemann for Brilliant Classics

Franceso Corti studied with Bob van Asperen, and has worked with Marc Minkowski and Jordi Savall

Comprehensive booklet notes on each sonata, the instruments and the composer