Britain's Brook Street Band and its delightfully named founder and cellist, Tatty Theo, has cultivated a big, bright Baroque-instrument sound ideally suited to Britain's crossover Classic FM radio network and similar outlets. The sound, recorded at a Norfolk church, is too glaring by half, but it probably cuts through the clutter if you're listening to it on the motorway. The virtues of this set of Handel's Trio Sonatas, Op. 2, which were not really intended as a set, are consistency of intonation, clarity, an overall sharp ...
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Britain's Brook Street Band and its delightfully named founder and cellist, Tatty Theo, has cultivated a big, bright Baroque-instrument sound ideally suited to Britain's crossover Classic FM radio network and similar outlets. The sound, recorded at a Norfolk church, is too glaring by half, but it probably cuts through the clutter if you're listening to it on the motorway. The virtues of this set of Handel's Trio Sonatas, Op. 2, which were not really intended as a set, are consistency of intonation, clarity, an overall sharp edge, and above all an appreciation of the unique sound world of each work. The continuo texture is nicely modulated to the textures above it. Unlike other ensembles that feel free to mix and match, the group plays each sonata with the instruments Handel specified; the exception is the Trio Sonata in F major, Op. 2/4, for which Handel indicated a "traverso," while a recorder is used here. It's true that the recorder was commonly used in pastoral F major pieces, but by 1720 or so the...
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