'I used to write like the devil in those days, but chiefly for the hautbois', Handel is alleged to have said when shown copies of the first six sonatas recorded here. The then owner of the manuscript, which is now in the British Library, noted that they were written when Handel was 'about Ten Years of Age, before he had any Instructions'; but these pieces are so richly and elaborately worked, so mature in their style and technique, that this is inconceivable. If he wrote them, it must have been in his late teens, at Halle or Hamburg. Recent scholars have tended to reckon them inauthentic - there is no autograph, and none of the themes turn up in Handel's later work, as ideas from his early music usually do. Still, listening to these spirited performances, I am inclined to think that if they aren't by Handel, they are by an extraordinarily good composer with a style uncannily close to his. There are so many characteristic things in them: the use of suspensions to drive the music forward, the piling up of sequences to create tension, the bold and unexpected strokes, the occasional excessive length (typical of the young Handel, and often counterbalanced by the confident handling of extended movements) and both energy and sentiment of a kind very much associated with his music.
The sonatas are specified for two oboes in the original, but it has long been thought that the differences in the texture of the upper parts imply that one was intended for violin, and that is how they are done here. It may be the artistry of these players, both pre-eminent interpreters of this repertory, and both in cracking form here, that persuades me that the music is Handel's: but whether it is or not, it is certainly worth listening to. Anthony Robson's beautifully detailed playing and his impeccable articulation, and Elizabeth Wallfisch's shapely and clearly directed violin playing, make a strong case for the music. Listen, for example, to the drive they bring to such fast movements as the second of No 5 or No 4 or the finale of No 2, the wit in the finale of No 6 and the Alla breve of No 3, and the graceful playing and exquisite detail of the opening movement of No 6, one of several with a lot of dotted rhythms (always a favourite of Handel's). And the aware and supportive continuo playing contributes strongly, too.
The seventh sonata here is another whose authenticity cannot be proved, although it comes from a manuscript including other sonatas that are definitely Handel's. Confusingly called Op 2 No 8 in the Chrysander edition, it is a superlative work, and very Handelian: once again, if it isn't Handel's, there was another great composer around with an amazingly similar style. This work is usually played on two violins, but it goes well on violin and oboe, and Robson and Wallfisch give a powerful reading of this deeper, much more mature piece.
The balance between oboe and violin here seems to me in favour of the former, which is the more penetrating; turning the left channel a little louder gives better parity. Altogether an excellent disc.
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