New Classical NE 0259

Handel’s Delight – Baroque and Blue

The jazz group Baroque and Blue performs latter-day arrangements of music by George Frideric Handel, including four sonatas and the chamber pieces ‘Süße Stille, sanfte Quelle’, ‘Die ihr aus dunklen Grüften’, and ‘Künft’ger Zeiten eitler Kummer’. The CD also features the renowned male soprano Jörg Waschinski.

The arrangements on Handel’s Delight range from a relatively faithful offering of Handel’s text with a pizzicato bass, and drums beefing up the continuo (as in HWV 367), to instances where the composer’s harmonies are intensified and certain phrases expanded.

The inventive, catchy, and jazzy arrangements by musicians and composers including Blaž Pucihar, Loy Wesselburg, Christian Haller, Roger Goldberg, and Hans-Richard Ludewig – and Britain’s Andy Panayi – let listeners recognise anew the freshness and invention of Handel’s music. In his day, Handel depended on the inspiration and skill of his performing artists to bring his music to life for his audience. In the interpretations recorded here, it similarly comes alive for today’s listeners.