Catalogue

Summary:

Editor’s Choice – “The Brook Street Band… are gaining quite a reputation for their stylish and imaginative programmes. They bring a delightful freshness and lack of affectation… playing in a vivacious style… that makes it very clear that they are enjoying themselves. Their pleasure in the music is infectious.” – Stanley Sadie, Gramophone

“… a stylish, adventurous programme distinguished by this vivacious group’s infectious relish in its work.” – Anthony Holden, The Guardian 

Recording of the Month “It is a tremendous pleasure to be a reviewer when a disk like this comes along, as it does only a couple of times a year. Just to be able to listen from the first note to the last with all critical analyses beguiled, to be able to relax and enjoy while the performers and engineers do everything right. There is a perfect balance of brilliance and sweetness in the original-instrument tonality… they play it [Leclair] with virtuosity and a clear sense of French style with the just the right amount of swing…. The sound is unusually clear, realistic, and undistorted” – Paul Shoemaker, MusicWebInternational.com 

“…The Brook Street Band… play with style and zest, keeping the rhythms light and springy and ornamenting deftly… eager continuo… delightful music-making, with violinists sparring elegantly in the faster numbers and bringing a delicate sense of timing and colour to the slow movements.” ★★★★ – Richard Wigmore, BBC Music magazine 

‘It’s a great to hear vigorous yet informed playing, combined with such a crisp, well-balanced recording… Well researched and compiled… the accomplished performances of Handel’s earliest version of the famous Water Music suites are fresh and sparky, enlivening this all-too familiar music.’ ★★★★ – Jane Jones, Classic FM magazine

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.

Gramophone Editor’s Choice

Tracklist:

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685 –1759)
Trio Sonata Op. 5 No.4 in G Major
1. I. Allegro – A Tempo Ordinario – Allegro (4:57)
2. II. Passacaille (4:39)
3. III. Gigue – Minuet – Gigue (3:42)

JEAN-MARIE LECLAIR L’AINE (1697–1764)
Premier Recreation de Musique Op. 6 in D major
4. I. Ouverture (3:46)
5. II Gracieusement (3:54)
6. III & IV. Forlanne – Menuets 1 and 2 (3:55)
7. V & VI. Gavotte – Passepieds 1 and 2 (2:58)
8. VII. Sarabande (3:08)
9. VIII. Chaconne (6:08)

ARCANGELO CORELLI (1653–1713)
Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 12 in G Major
10. XII. Ciaccona (3:37)

Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 7 In C Major
11. Allegro (2:39)
12. Grave (1:05)
13. Allegro (1:06)

FRANCESCO GEMINIANI (1687–1762)
Violin Sonata in A Minor, H.89, Op. 4, No. 5
14. Vivace (1:47)
15. Affettuoso (2:27)
16. Allegro (2:02)

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Oxford Water Music Suite in F Major
17. Aire (1:21)
18. Minuet (1:45)
19. Allegro (2:18)
20. Bouree – Hornpipe – Bouree (1:48)

Oxford Water Music Suite in G minor
21. Minuets 1 and 2 (2:44)
22. Allegro (1:16)

Oxford Water Music Suite in D major
23. Minuet (0:57)
24. Lentement (1:24)
25. Bouree (1:03)

Trio Sonata Op. 2, No. 3 In B Flat Major
26. Andante (2:33)
27. Allegro (2:16)
28. Larghetto (3:10)
29. Allegro (3:06)

Total duration: 77:31

The Brook Street Band
Marianna Szües, Katalin Kertez, violins
Hannah McLaughlin, oboe & soprano recorder
Tatty Theo, cello • Carolyn Gibley, harpsichord & chamber organ

Recorded 1 – 4 April 2002, at Raveningham Church, Raveningham, Norfolk, and 24 November 2002, at St. Mary-at-Hill, London • Recording Producer and Balance Engineer: Simon Fox-Gál