There is no shortage of good historical-instrument performances of Handel's concerti grossi from Op. 6, but this set of four, from German conductor Thomas Fey and his new Ensemble La Passione, deserves strong consideration. As he has in regard to Haydn, Fey seems here to adopt the overall goal of stripping away layers that have intervened across the years between modern audiences and the intensity a work would have had in its own time. His attacks are sharp, and his contrasts between quiet and soft passages are quite ...
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There is no shortage of good historical-instrument performances of Handel's concerti grossi from Op. 6, but this set of four, from German conductor Thomas Fey and his new Ensemble La Passione, deserves strong consideration. As he has in regard to Haydn, Fey seems here to adopt the overall goal of stripping away layers that have intervened across the years between modern audiences and the intensity a work would have had in its own time. His attacks are sharp, and his contrasts between quiet and soft passages are quite dramatic. This is all to the good in these concertos, which marry the terraced dynamics of the Corellian and Vivaldian concerto to Handel's gift for large-scale thinking and dramatic impact. They're meant to be something of a rip-roaring ride, and Fey and the Ensemble La Passione deliver one. The group excels in movements like the quiet but extremely tense final Allegro of the Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6/6, with its lurching chromatic part for the violins; the booklet notes by...
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