Record of the day: Händel, “Marian cantatas and arias”

George Friderich Händel, “Marian Cantatas and Arias” (Cd Archiv 439866-2)

Celebrating this day, where those who have passed away are remembered, by listening to sacred music is a well-established habit but for once it may be interesting to escape the Requiem masses that are traditionally offered to us by radio and concert associations, immersing ourselves in listening to these wonderful Händelian pages, very little known and inspired by the Marian cult.

The result of his trip to Italy (where Handel had the opportunity to know and assimilate in a personal way the style of authors such as Corelli and Scarlatti), they are works intended mainly for liturgical use, yet they require an interpreter of great virtuosity to fully convey the intense writing of the vocal part, with lines of stupendous plasticity and complete adherence to the text, truly surprising in a composer who was not particularly devout like Handel who considered these more than anything else as occasional works written to satisfy the requests of the courts of noble families which he had the opportunity to attend in Italy.

The melodic purity of the antiphon “Haec est Regina virginum” would be enough (a page which in its use of few elements capable of reaching maximum effectiveness can be brought closer to Mozart’s “Ave verum corpus”) to recommend this album interpreted in such a superb by mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and the ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln; even the Cantata “Donna, che in ciel è ottimo” is already equipped with an iron sense of musical dramaturgy, the same one that will allow Handel to become one of the greatest authors of operas.

The infallible melodic ability is combined with instrumental accompaniments with clear influences of Italian style, where the inexhaustible imagination of this composer pours out generously, recreating a climate of subdued religiosity that even in the most virtuosic moments never gives in to vain spectacular effectism. The expansive composition “Il Piante di Maria” that closes the album has been attributed to Handel for centuries, but recently a group of scholars have questioned its authenticity, attributing its composition to Giovanni Battista Ferrandini. In any case, it is a beautiful composition, entirely worthy of the great German author, and which gives Otter the opportunity to express all her remarkable qualities as a performer.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.