Apologies to Handel

I found myself at the National Portrait Gallery on Monday, and went to see Handel. I hadn't noticed before quite how elegant his fingers are - nothing like the fat piggy fingers, described as being too big to fit on the keys of the keyboard. I did feel the need to apologise to him though, due to some rather severe cuts made in a performance of Jephtha that the Band had given. These were totally out of our control and most were understandable and necessitated by making a 3 hour piece into a 2 hour piece. BUT...The Angel Symphony? That was too much!

Handel's Jephtha

How dark, O Lord, are Thy decrees,
All hid from mortal sight...

Preparing for Jephtha this coming week. What a privilege to play this amazing piece of music.

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!