Handel Offerings

Handel’s recorder sonatas hold a slightly odd place in the repertory. The apparent simplicity of the recorder part means that the sonatas represent core repertory from an early point in the training of many recorder players. At the same time, the virtuosity involved in mastering and conveying successfully this simplicity ensures the sonatas’ longevity in the repertory of players who return to them time and time again in an effort to understand fully these delightful works. And judging by the enjoyment and mastery displayed in Handel: The recorder sonatas (Accent ACC 24353, issued 2019, 63′), this is exactly what Stefan Temmingh has done. Then there is the question of the bass line and whether to use a cello in addition to the keyboard. Recorder players tend to be divided on this subject, and indeed there is no shortage of recordings of these sonatas with which to compare the results of this choice. Successful recordings by Pamela Thorby and Michala Petri favour harpsichord while those of Dan Laurin and Marion Verbruggen use both harpsichord and cello. Handel probably composed these as exercises for Princess Anne, and perhaps for this reason the bass line of the sonatas is not for the faint-hearted. The liner notes of this disc take the form of a conversation between Temmingh and harpsichordist Wiebke Weidanz in which they talk of their creative decisions in light of the complexity of the bass line, and how the harpsichord is really an equal to the recorder in these sonatas (unusually so in comparison to other similar works of the time). They convey this very successfully throughout the disc, perhaps helped by their inclusion of ‘preludes’ (or similar) between the sonatas, many of which are shared amongst the two instruments. Some of these are Handel’s, one is by Henry Purcell. The anonymous Fantaisie works particularly well as an introduction to the Sonata in By (HWV377). Occasionally Temmingh’s ornamentation steps slightly away from what might be regarded as tasteful in terms of performance practice, but such moments are rare and fleeting. Weidanz’s ornamentation, however, really adds to the colour and interest of several of the sonatas. Overall, the focus on the harpsichord’s role in these sonatas makes this disc stand out as one worth having in the collection, and the excellent recording balance of the two instruments throughout adds to the attraction.