Handel: Organ Concerto No. 7 in B flat major, HWV306, Op. 7 No. 1

“Anyone familiar with Richard Egarr's perky, exuberantly-ornamented take on Handel's Op. 4 concertos will know what to expect from this sequel. …the Academy of Ancient Music are intimate conversationalists, alert to every nuance of Egarr's abiding wit and pungent repartee. The chamber organ, (housed in Handel's Parish Church), is quite magnificent, vividly captured in Harmonia Mundi's SACD, and wonderfully exploited by Egarr's highly fertile imagination...” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 ****

“The rich-sounding AAM forces comprise 18 players, including oboes and bassoons; both their playing and Egarr's solo contributions are of an impeccably high order. …Egarr takes a bold, improvisatory approach to the concertos. The allegro movements are enlivened by rapid keyboard flourishes, liberal ornamentation...and delightful variants to the basic printed rhythms in the manner of French Baroque composers.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2009

“Herbert Tachezi is delightfully inventive in ornamentation and organ 'ad lib' movements. Lively tempos and jaunty dances, but tuning instability from oboes conflicts with the immutably pitched organ.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2009 ***

“They take precedence over all the competition, both as performances and as recordings. The playing has wonderful life and warmth, tempi are always aptly judged, and although original instruments are used, this is authenticity with a kindly presence.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“This recording was made at St-Lawrence Whitchurch on an organ Handel must certainly have played. It sounds well under Paul Nicholson's hands. There's plenty of brightly glittering passagework and rich diapason sound in such movements as the passacaglia-like first of Op 7 No 1; while the softer side of the instrument is particularly appealing in Op 4 No 5, where Nicholson, doubtless conscious that this is a transcription of a recorder sonata, draws from it some very sweet sounds. It has a mechanical action, and here and there the incidental noise may be disconcerting.
Still, it's authentic, so possibly we should be grateful to have it reproduced. There's some very lively and at times virtuoso playing from Nicholson in the quick movements, with sturdy rhythms, and some of the dance movements go with a good swing too.
Nicholson gives good, precise accounts of the various solo fugues and the transcriptions and improvisatory movements used here when Handel offered merely an ad lib. He's a thoughtful player; his added ornamentation is always musical, intelligent and stylish. However, in several movements overdeliberate orchestral phrasing or accentuation can be damaging; this happens quite often and sometimes affects Nicholson's playing. Op 4 No 6 is played on the harp, with some very delicate timing from Frances Kelly.
The bright, clear recording captures happily the acoustic of this moderate-sized church.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010