Here is the link to Handel Concerti Grossi – Part Two at the NativeDSD Music Store. This music is also available as part of this bundle.
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin kickstarts their Handel trilogy with this recording of the first six concerti grossi op. 6. Originally designed as attractive interludes to English oratorio performances, Handel’s concerti grossi soon gained fame as the most appealing orchestral music of the baroque era. Written in London in 1739, towards the end of his career, Handel paid tribute to the immensely popular concerti grossi of Corelli while simultaneously proving his mastery incorporating all musical styles of his time. Led by their concertmaster Bernhard Forck, the players of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin demonstrate why many consider them the best baroque ensemble of today. This first installment will be followed by the last six concerti grossi op. 6, as well as a recording of the concerti grossi op. 3.
Handel wrote the first six Concerti Grossi published as op. 6 in just over two weeks, from September 29 to October 15, 1739 (the final six were completed before Hallowe’en). You can hear the rush of inspiration in these works in a way that few pieces of music can match. I think of Mozart’s piano concertos from the spring of 1785, and Schubert’s composition of Winterreise in February and October of 1827. Handel’s orchestral music sounds robust when it’s played like this, but I’ve heard more than a few versions of both op. 3 and op. 6 that were crippled by poor musical choices or stylistic axe-grinding, on both sides of the Historically Informed Practices divide. Bernhard Forck and his very fine Berlin musicians, supported by Pentatone’s fine engineers, let Handel’s inspiration flow unimpeded.
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Bernhard Forck, Concertmaster
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 01:12:39
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | PTC5186737 |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 24 Bit, FLAC 192 kHz, FLAC 96 kHz |
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| Artists | |
| Composers | |
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| Financial Support | Freunde und Förderer der Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin e.V. |
| Notes | NativeDSD selectively creates higher DSD bitrates of label's releases using two methods (Merging Technologies Album Publishing and Singnalyst HQPlayer Pro), depending on the original edited master source. In order to understand the processes, a bit of background is appropriate. NativeDSD sells only recordings that were originally recorded in DSD or DXD (352.8KHz PCM). The overwhelming majority of these recordings were edited and post processed in DXD, then converted (modulated) into DSD deliverable bit rates. NativeDSD acquires the label's original DXD edited master, and using Merging Technologies Album Publishing, creates a first generation DSD64, DSD128, and DSD256, as well as a DXD FLAC deliverable. Additionally, on selected recordings, a 32bit PCM WAV file is extracted (the DXD PCM FLAC is 24 bits by format definition), and uses it to modulate a DSD512 using HQPlayer Pro.The exception to the above are the few label recordings (Yarlung, Eudora, Just Listen etc.) that record in DSD, and do no PCM post processing mixing, level balancing, EQ etc. That's doable by restricting post processing to just editing, where only the edit transition interval (typically 100ms or less) is PCM converted, leaving the DSD music content unaltered when rendered. For those recordings, the DSD edited master (the actual recording master with edits) is used with HQPlayer Pro to re-modulate the missing DSD bitrates.Why do any of this? It's to provide a DSD bitrate deliverable choice, allowing a customer to purchase the highest DSD bitrate their DAC will support.It's correct that there's no additional music content information contained in the higher DSD bit rate from the original DSD bitrate. What's different is the uncorrelated modulation noise content placement in the frequency spectrum. When a DSD original file is converted to DXD (PCM), the inherent DSD modulation noise is removed through the decimation filtering, and re-inserted when modulated back to DSD. The modulation noise (again, uncorrelated) is the carrier part of the DSD bitstream modulation, and an inherent part of the DSD bit stream.
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| Original Recording Format | |
| Producer | Karel Bruggeman |
| Recording Engineer | Jean-Marie Geijsen |
| Recording Location | Nikodemuskirche, Berlin, in September 2018 and February 2019 |
| Recording Type & Bit Rate | DXD |
| Release Date | July 18, 2019 |
Press reviews
Classics Today
This presentation of the first six of Handel’s Op. 6 concerti grossi is vibrant, uninhibited, almost aggressive in some cases, but always thoroughly centered in the context of the score, celebrating the catchy melodies and reveling in the pulsing rhythms, ultimately delivering a consummately entertaining and justly realized interpretation of these oft-performed and recorded concertos.
Yes, these popular pieces have been superbly recorded before, but a new traversal, especially one as technically accomplished and musically impressive as this one, is certainly welcome. The works’ theatricality and clever, skillful compositional characteristics come to life in this orchestra’s vivid realizations.
Whether you know or have never before heard these seminal 18th-century concertos, you will be rewarded by hearing one of the world’s finest baroque bands deliver its best, well-considered readings–articulate, fast-moving, and stylish, exemplified in instances such as the lively, buoyant Allegro of the A minor concerto HWV 322.
The sound, from the Nikodemuskirche, Berlin, is excellent, adding to the confirmed distinction of this well-managed, competently presented project.
Gramophone
Akamus gives us a thrilling set of Handel’s Op 6 Concerto Grossi, supremely inventive music given sparkling performances.
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