HANDEL: His Life and Works (1 DVD + 2 CDs)

€7.99

• Artist: Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields / Sir Neville Marriner, Maria Grafova: harp, Janacek Philharmony: Hartmut Haenchen, Orchestra of St. John’s Smith Square / John Lubbock, Andre Bernard: trumpet, Slovak Chamber Orchestra / Bohdan Warchal, Pro Christe
• Format: 1 DVD + 2 CDs

Half documentary half fiction, this DVD The Wandering Maestro introduces the viewer to the life and works of the great Baroque composer George Frideric Handel.

Both unpredictable and full of ardor, both a mysterious and jovial fellow, Handel was a tireless traveller. His odyssey took him from his native Saxony to Austria, Italy and finally England – where he became the country’s pride and joy, adulated by both its people and aristocracy. During his many trips Handel’s music absorbed countless influences and styles, culminating in the masterpieces that, in the end, granted it immortality.

Through Handel’s chamber music works, The Wandering/ Travelling Maestro takes us into the composer’s paradoxical universe. The film is a combination of documentary-style vignettes – that recount the musician’s life story and illustrate it with the help of visual archives – and choreographed movements which portray a few key moments. The works featured in the film are interpreted by “Les Boréades”, a Canadian ensemble.

The four choreographed movements are staged to a few of Handel’s shorter works (The Harmonious Blacksmith, Sinfonia). Amid stylized sets, dancers and actors present eight themes or moments of the composer’s life: a duel between the maestro and one of his best friends; his passionate love story with Italian music; his arrival to eighteenth century England; the rivalry he caused between two famous prima donnas; his convalescence in a thermal spa; his “resurrection” after a lengthy sickness and years of professional failure; his reaching his artistic peak with The Messiah; and finally his slow descent towards death.

DVD
1. Movement I Sonata for flute in A-moll Adagio 2:13
2. Movement II Air O Ruddier than the cherry from the pastoral acis and galatea 3:05
3. Movement III Air could you gain the lender creature from the pastoral acis and galatea 6:01
4. Movement IV Trio Sonata No. 2 in B-dur: Andante Trio Sonata No. 3 in F-dur: Allegro 5:55
5. Movement V The Harmonions Black Smith Air Con Variasioni 4:33
6. Movement VI Sonata No. 1 in C-moll: Largo 1:49
7. Sonata No. 1 in C-moll: Allegro 1:20
8. Movement VII Sinfonia from the pastoral Acis and Calatea 2:19
9. Movement VIII Trio Sonata No. 3 in F-dur: Adagio 2:25

CD 1
MUSIC FOR THE ROYAL FIREWORKS
1. Ouverture (allegro, lentement, allegro) 7:29
2. Bourrée 1:26
3. La Paix (Largo alla Siciliana) 2:36
4. La Rejouissance 1:53
5. Menuet 3:22
WATER MUSIC SUITE No. 1
6. Ouverture (largo-allegro) 3:23
7. Adagio e staccato 2:12
8. Allegro 2:28
9. Andante 2:34
10. Allegro (Da capo) 2:28
11. Passepied 3:13
12. Air 2:50
13. Menuet 2:33
14. Bourrée 1:05
15. Hornpipe 1:17
16. Allegro 2:54
SUITE No. 2
17. Allegro 1:58
18. Alla hornpipe 4:05
19. Menuet 1:48
20. Lentement 1:25
21. Bourrée 1:11
SUITE No. 3
22. Without tempo indication 2:31
23. Rigaudon 2:28
24. Menuet 3:09
25. Bourrée 1:34

CD2
HARP CONCERTO in B flat major
1. Allegro moderato 6:02
2. Larghetto 5:08
3. Allegro moderato 2:48
4. Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (from Solomon) 3:04
TRUMPET CONCERTO in D major
5. Adagio 3:55
6. Siciliana 2:30
7. Allegro 1:08
8. HALLELUJAH Chorus from Messiah 3:49
CONCERTO GROSSO in G major Op. 6/1
9. A tempo giusto 1:38
10. Allegro 1:45
11. Adagio 2:31
12. Allegro 2:28
13. Allegro 3:12
OBOE CONCERTO in G minor
14. Grave 2:35
15. Allegro 1:45
16. Sarabande 2:30
17. Allegro 1:53
ORGAN CONCERTO in B flat major Op. 7 No. 1
18. Andante 4:58
19. Andante 5:35
20. Largo e piano 3:25
21. Allegro 2:37
22. Organo ad libitum 1:54
23. Allegro 2:37