Handel / Geffert - Handel in Londonorgan Works & Transcriptions - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Transient Canvas releases their second recording on New Focus, InchWiredInch, continuing to document their excellent work commissioning music for bass clarinet and marimba. This diverse collection includes works by Kirsten Volness, Peter Van Zandt Lane, David Ibbett, Lainie Fefferman, Rudolf Rojahn, Mischa Salkind-Pearl, and Dan VanHassel. Hailed as InchsuperbInch by the Boston Globe, and Inchnothing short of fabulousInch by the Boston Musical Intelligencer, Amy Advocat and Matt Sharrock have been blazing their own trail as the bass clarinet/marimba duo Transient Canvas since 2011. In that time they have premiered over 80 works and continue to perform across the United States and abroad. They have been presented by the Alba Music Festival, SoundNOW Festival, Composers Inc., and Outpost Concert Series, among others. Additionally they have held residencies at Harvard, Northeastern, Brandeis, Otterbein, and Tufts Universities, the University of Georgia, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

This new recording includes four Handel organ concertos, among them the famous Concerto Op. 7, No. 3 in B flat major, the so-called InchHallelujah ConcertoInch (with a theme excerpt from InchMessiahInch). The works were played in Dresden's Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) at the Horizontal Organ, making the situation comparable to Handel's new Horizontal Organ at the Royal Theatre, Covent Garden (1739).

Volume 1 of the series InchHandeliana HallensisInch shows three different facets of George Frederick Handel's compositional work. The 22 movements known by the name of InchWater MusicInch belong to Handel's most popular orchestral pieces. The composer however did not leave any autographs. Subsequent copies and prints do not always include all of the movements and sometimes they are presented in different orders. Some of the individual movements were probably created at different times. The suite performed on this album demonstrates the tonal contrasts in the overture and the diverse sonatas and dances. Handel could have discovered the form of the concerto grosso, in which a solo concertino was contrasted with the orchestra, in Italy. He had been composing special concerts for organ and in one case for harp and orchestra since 1735 in order to offer these between acts of his oratorio performances. He therefore wrote new concerts in concerto grosso form or compiled them from existing movements for the 1739/40 season in the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theater. The sixth concerto in G minor which can be heard on this album is one of the totally new compositions. Although this was like several others inspired by Corelli, it can be seen to be more innovative in harmony, rhythm, and texture.