Leclair, J: Premier Recreation de Musique Op. 6 in D major

Four of Australia’s foremost early musicians join forces to present this marvellous CD of baroque trio sonatas by Corelli, Purcell and Leclair. Rachel Beesley and Julia Fredersdorf have been playing recently in Europe’s best early music ensembles, such as Les Arts Florissants, La Petite Bande and Le Parlement de Musique, and also with Australia’s most celebrated period ensembles such as The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Antipodes. Together with outstanding locally-based musicians baroque cellist Rosanne Hunt and keyboardist Jacqueline Ogeil, these two violinists give scintillating performances of this all-too-rarely-heard repertoire.

It’s easy to imagine the well-documented first performance of Handel’s Water Music, played by at least 50 musicians on a barge floating down the Thames for a royal procession. But what was the score’s first incarnation? After all, Baroque composers would shamelessly beg, borrow and steal from their own music, whatever it took to make a few extra bob.

Enter the Brook Street Band, a young baroque chamber ensemble whose core make-up is two violins, harpsichord and cello. Upon learning of a chamber version of the Water Music in an Oxford University library, apparently penned by Handel himself, the group applied 18th century practices and adapted the music for their own forces, adding an oboe doubling on recorder. The resulting world premier recording recreates how Handel’s popular music may have been enjoyed by 18th century folk in the privacy of their own home.

This is the debut recording by The Brook Street Band, award winning specialists in eighteenth century repertoire who take their name from the London street where George Frideric Handel lived and composed for most of his working life. They complete their CD with trio sonatas by Corelli, Geminiani, Handel and Leclair.