On Tour

We're at Repton in Derbyshire en route for Ilkley. After a great day of rehearsals and a lovely meal at Nicki's, we woke to snow. Lost for words...Let's hope we can all get up to Yorkshire. The sunglasses we packed seem somewhat superfluous.

Anyway, British comments about the weather aside, its been a great few days so far and a real privilege to make music together again. At times like this I am reminded of how wonderful my job is, and how much I need Handel (and Bach) in my life!

Handel in the Spring

It's been glorious weather for Band rehearsals; what could be better than a bit of Handel interspersed with coffee and a spot of sunbathing. Longer days have meant The Band has the luxury of re-visiting lots of repertoire, and making a few new friends (pieces, that is, rather than people in this instance). This is all in preparation for a concert in Ilkley on April 4th, and also for an exciting project at Cossington in the summer. All fueled by fantastic home-cooking, thanks to Carolyn!

Pleasure Gardens

I went to the Museum of London over the weekend and saw the fantastic recreation of the London Pleasure Gardens. It's very evocative, complete with dark corners, costumed people, sparkly lights, and the bust of Handel presiding over everything. The Dead March from Saul drew me in, as I approached from another part of the museum. A very successful new(ish) addition to the museum.

1746

Whoops...I got my dates wrong. 1746 is the year in question, although the tough year Handel had previously doesn't seem to have knocked him off track (in my opinion). I guess it didn't seem that way at the time though. Performances were in March 1746, so exactly 266 years ago. I still can't get enough of this piece.

The Occasional Oratorio

I don't often get the chance to sit down and listen to an oratorio just for pleasure, but a few travel days recently meant I had more uninterrupted listening time. I packed Handel's Occasional Oratorio, which I hadn't got off the CD shelf for a few years. What a piece! 1745 may well have been a bad year for Handel (as Robert King states in his sleeve notes) but looking at this piece from a distance of several hundred years, I can only conclude that the difficult year produced an AMAZING work. Yes, there are borrowings and re-heatings, but the music, not to mention the text is so strong. Many favourites reappear, including Zadok the Priest. What's not to like? Now to raise funds to put on a performance!

Covent Garden

I cricked my neck and since I needed to be in playing condition again pretty quickly I sought help in London's Covent Garden, at Neal's Yard. Whilst lying on the table having deep tissue massage, I was struck by how little has actually changed in this area since the days when Handel knew it. The building I was in dated back to the 18th century, and the sounds of people chatting and drinking coffee in the courtyard below, enjoying the sunshine, were timeless. Sure, the shops are selling different things, but only modern updates if you think about it. At times like this it's easy to feel very connected with Handel's London, whilst enjoying the more modern concepts of decent plumbing and hygiene!

The joy of buying music

Buying music always feels like an essential luxury, if such a statement isn't a contradiction in terms. Somehow I always want to own it rather than hire or borrow it. The latest acquisition is a facsimile score of Handel's Jephtha, a thing of great beauty. Handel's original manuscript is available on IMSLP, but it's pretty impossible to read. He made so many corrections and changes. The original manuscript does however have the famous words scrawled in 'How Dark O Lord are thy Decrees' (which roughly translates as 'stopped owing to poor sight') which the Randall copy from later in the 18th century lacks. Handel was actually losing his sight at this point.