• Main Performer: Andrew Manze
• Languages of Booklet Text: English, French, German

Review

Appreciation of Andrew Manze's and Richard Egarr's delicious set of Handel's complete violin sonatas takes little more than open ears and a willingness to let go of preconceptions or certainties. Complete -- according to the best scholarship -- means only five bona fide sonatas (those in D major, D minor, A major, G minor, and G major), three acceptable sonatas of uncertain provenance but high musical quality (the "Walsh" in F major, and the "Roger" sonatas in A major and E major), and two single movements from incomplete manuscripts. This winnowed set is therefore shorter than the familiar 12 sonatas known as Op. 1, several of which now have lost standing on account of misattribution or because they were intended for other instruments. But this has been sorted out to most historians' satisfaction, and the sonatas on this CD are as close to Handel's genuine work as possible. Manze and Egarr, both leading proponents of Baroque period practice, have delivered the sonatas with splendid polish, exquisite technique, and sublime expression, and the phenomenal reproduction is enhanced by the resonant acoustics of Skywalker Sound. There is probably no better album of Handel's violin sonatas in authentic performance, so this disc is highly recommended. ~ Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
George Frideric Handel	Violin Sonata in D major, Op.1/13, HWV 371	12:09
George Frideric Handel	Violin Sonata in F, Op.1/12, HWV 370 (doubtful)	13:48
George Frideric Handel	Violin (or Oboe) Sonata in D minor, HWV 359a	7:37
George Frideric Handel	Violin Sonata in A major, Op.1/3, HWV 361	7:55
George Frideric Handel	Violin Sonata in G minor, Op.1/6, HWV 364a	7:16
George Frideric Handel	Violin Sonata in A major ("Roger"), Op. 1/10 (doubtful)	8:02
George Frideric Handel	Violin Sonata in E major ("Roger"), Op. 1/12 (doubtful)	9:07
George Frideric Handel	Violin (or recorder) Sonata in G major, HWV 358	4:49
George Frideric Handel	Andante for violin & continuo in A minor, HWV 412	2:12
George Frideric Handel	Allegro for violin & continuo in C minor, HWV 408	3:30